


Truly, Madly, Deeply

by invisible_slytherin



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, F/F, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-09
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2019-02-12 14:08:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 32,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12960999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/invisible_slytherin/pseuds/invisible_slytherin
Summary: (This story was called 'Tell me that you love me, even if its fake' but I changed the title)"In their eyes, that group of students was just idiots who got themselves in unnecessary danger impulsively, especially Liam who seemed to be the leader of their little ‘pack’, and they had never wanted to associate with them, but the war had changed them too, and now the Slytherins were glad they had the chance to get to know them better."After the war things in Hogwarts changed. The students grew up after what they had gone through and some of them started questioning the rivalry and animosity between the houses. Theo had always known that he was a Slytherin and he had always wondered what made a certain group of students, lead by a certain Gryffindor, be so reckless and so against self-preservation. Getting to know them proves to be different from what he expected, but an amazing experience nonetheless.The Thiam Hogwarts AU no one asked for but I'm writing anyway.





	1. Leave Your Lover

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this back in May/June as a Drarry fanfic, but then I became Thiam trash and I just couldn't bring myself to write Drarry anymore so I hadn't touched this work since then. Now, I decided to turn it into a Thiam AU and here we are.

_I will give you all of me_  
Just leave your lover, leave him for me  
Leave your lover, leave him for me  
We sit in bars and raise our drinks to growing old  
Oh, I'm in love with you and you will never know 

_\- Leave Your Lover by Sam Smith_

"Are you okay, Theo?" Tracy put a hand on his arm.

They were sitting on the grass near the lake, the wind wasn't cold, the sun was shining shyly since it was early in the morning, and they wanted to be outside and enjoy the nice weather while they could. The cold days weren't far.

"What?" The boy blinked before looking at her.

"You spaced out. What were you looking at?"

Theo shook his head. "Nothing."

She looked at him like she didn't believe what he was saying, but dropped the subject and started talking about homework. Theo was glad that she respected his silence and didn't make him talk; he didn't want to tell her what he was looking at, she would have questions and he wouldn't be able to answer them. He didn't have the answers, he didn't know why he was always following the boy with his eyes.

Since Liam Dunbar and his friends had come to the Slytherin table one morning, on the first week back at Hogwarts, asking for a truce, Theo found his eyes glued to the boy, whenever he was in sight. Theo couldn't stop doing it and he wasn't about to tell Tracy that; knowing her, she would try to put crazy ideas in his head and nothing pretty would come out of it.

"Are you coming with us today?" Her voice interrupted his confused thoughts.

"Where?"

"The Three Broomsticks, obviously," she raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you forgot."

Seeing Theo looking clueless, she shook her head and sighed. She knew that something was worrying him, but she knew him well enough to know that he would only tell her what was wrong when he wanted to.

"Liam and his friends invited us to go with them," Tracy clarified.

"They did?" He looked at her surprised.

"Yes, Theo," she rolled her eyes. "You were there when they did."

"I must have been distracted," he shrugged

"Yeah, distracted," she smirked. "Are you coming with us or not?"

"I don't see why not."

__________________________

It was the beginning of October. The sun was high, covered by white clouds, there was no wind and the air was warm. The weather being so nice was a little unusual, but the Hogwarts' students were happy to enjoy it, especially the 3rd years and above since it was a Hogsmeade trip weekend.

That's why the Slytherins could go there and meet with Liam and his friends outside of the castle. Theo, Tracy and Brett - Josh had detention and wasn't able to get out of it to go with them, - were walking to the Three Broomsticks and talking about the last potions class and the mess a Ravenclaw boy did when he spilled his cauldron.

"If it was with Professor Snape, he would be dead by now," Tracy laughed.

"True," Theo nodded. "Potions isn't the same with Professor Slughorn."

"At least with Professor Snape we were always on top," Brett smirked and pointed at the Slytherin crest on his uniform.

"That really wasn't fair," Tracy faked a pout.

"And we are not Hufflepuffs to care."

They were laughing when they opened The Three Broomsticks' door, which attracted some attention to them, they tried to ignore it and looked around to find the people they had come to meet. The others were already sitting at one of the tables; Corey Bryant - a Hufflepuff -, and Mason Hewitt - a Ravenclaw - were talking quietly among themselves; Dunbar - ever the Gryffindor - was talking to Nolan Holloway - another Hufflepuff - with his arm around Hayden Romero’s - the only other Gryffindor at the table - shoulders and a glass of Butterbeer in his hand.

When she saw them, Tracy waved her way between the people and the tables with Theo and Brett following her and sat on one of the vacant chairs at the table.

"Hello," she smiled. "Did we make you guys wait?"

"Not much," Mason returned the smile. "We got here five minutes ago, more or less."

"Good," Tracy looked behind her at the two boys she had come with. "Aren't you guys going to sit?"

Brett shared a look with Theo and shrugged sitting on the empty chair next to Nolan, leaving Theo to sit next to Tracy and in front of Dunbar. When they were all seated, Tracy called the waitress and ordered Butterbeers for all of them.

"I'll pay this round," she winked.

The waitress came with the drinks and smiled warmly at them after she looked at their uniforms.

"The last time I saw such a big group with all the four houses together was a long time ago."

"I hope you see more groups like ours,” Dunbar smiled at her. "The rivalry between the houses, especially Gryffindor and Slytherin is ridiculous," he looked directly at Theo when he said the last part, making the boy frown.

With a last warm smile, the waitress left them alone and went to another table.

"So, how's life?" Nolan asked after an awkward silence.

"You really don't know how to make conversation, do you?" Brett laughed and the other boy blushed, looking down. "Hey, don't be like that; I'm not making fun of you."

"Are you sure, Talbot?" Corey glared.

"Corey," Mason warned.

"Yes, I'm sure, Bryant. If I were making fun of Nolan, here, I would have said something meaner."

Corey looked like he was ready to answer, but Nolan beat him to it. "Honestly, don't start fighting. I didn't even feel offended."

"If you're sure, Nolan," Corey sighed.

"I have a question," Tracy interrupted, suddenly. "Since when have you two been together?" She gestured to Liam and Hayden.

Theo knew that she was only trying to stop a possible word-fight between Brett and Corey; she loved gossip, there was no way she didn't know since when Dunbar and his girlfriend were together. Theo thought that the effort she was making to have them and the other students getting along was amazing; he would never have guessed just how determined she could be about something like that.

"Not that long," the other girl smiled. "Though, I have had a crush on him since forever."

Everyone except the three Slytherins laughed like it was some kind of inside joke and Dunbar blushed, muttering something under his breath. However, even though they were laughing about the subject, there was some kind of tension between Liam and his girlfriend that no one seemed to notice, or everyone seemed to ignore.

But they weren't the only tense ones, Theo felt something weird creep inside him and felt himself tense up when they moved a little closer, maybe trying to ignore the tension. Theo couldn't understand what was happening with him; the last time he had felt something remotely like that had been back in 4th when Tracy had been flirting with an older Slytherin boy at the Yule Ball when she was supposed to be his date, but the situation was completely different or wasn't it?

From the corner of her eye, Tracy saw Theo looking down at his glass of Butterbeer like it was some riddle he was trying to solve and shook her head. Her best friend was acting weird again, just like he had been for weeks now. She was starting to get worried about him, it wasn't normal to see Theo space out, his gaze focusing for some time on something she wasn’t sure he was even seeing, sighing and glaring, but it was happening and she knew something was wrong with him. She would do anything to find out what it was and how she could make it better, she just wanted to help her friend, but she didn't know how.

"Theo," she called.

The boy looked startled at her. "Yeah?"

"You just spaced out, again," she said when she felt the others looking at them. There was no way she would confront him in front of them.

"I was just thinking," he shrugged and took a gulp of his drink. Always the same excuse, he wasn't fooling her.

"If you say so," she looked at him thoughtfully, before turning to talk to Hayden.

Theo just sighed and started tracing random patterns on the table with his finger, still deep in thought. Why had he felt like something inside him was squeezing painfully when they started talking about Dunbar and his girlfriend? It couldn't be like 4th year, it just couldn't. It made no sense.

Suddenly, Theo felt a foot nudge his under the table and looked up, catching Liam’s eyes. Theo raised an eyebrow - what did Dunbar want? Liam didn't talk and just looked at Theo with interest and curiosity, and Theo had never thought that he would ever be the one Dunbar would look at in that way, they had always looked at each other with something like... He didn't know, but it wasn't like this, that was for sure. Something fluttered inside him and Theo cursed himself, not wanting to know what it was.

After looking at him like he was trying to guess what the boy was thinking, Liam just shook his head and looked away; leaving Theo to try and understand what the gaze and the feelings swirling inside him meant.

____________________________

"Today was surprisingly fun," Tracy sat on one of the sofas in the Slytherin common room. 

This year Hogwarts was different. During the final battle the castle had suffered a lot of damage and everyone knew it would never be the same; some parts of the castle were still forbidden since they still hadn't been repaired, but the determination to open the school in September had made the professors and people all around Great Britain work hard during the summer so it would be possible. It still wasn't finished, but they were getting there.

"Who could have guessed that little Dunbar and his friends could be fun," Brett laughed.

It was true; in their eyes, that group of students was just idiots who got themselves in unnecessary danger impulsively, especially Liam who seemed to be the leader of their little ‘pack’, and they had never wanted to associate with them, but the war had changed them too, and now the Slytherins were glad they had the chance to get to know them better.  
Tracy and Josh continued talking for a while, commenting on the afternoon and the people they had spent it with. Brett was still wary of them, but Tracy was starting to like them, after all, she saw in Hayden a girl that she could be friends with, and she was glad for the opportunity since her female friends hadn't returned to Hogwarts after the war, preferring to move to Beauxbatons. 

Tracy was getting ready to argue with Brett some more and defend Hayden against something idiotic he was saying, when she noticed the missing piece of their group (the one that wasn't in detention) sitting by the window. She nudged Brett, cutting him mid-sentence and making him scowl, before pointing at Theo.

"Theo?" She called softly.

The boy was looking at the merpeople that passed by the window, with his knees to his chest and his arms around them, with a frown and a thoughtful expression on his face. He didn't look like he had heard her at all.

"What's wrong with him?" Brett asked, in a whisper so Theo wouldn't hear.

"I don't know," the girl sighed. "He has been like this almost since the beginning of the year."

"Do you think it's because of all that happened? The war, the Dark Lord, his parents..."

"Honestly, I don't think so. It seems like something different."

Not knowing what was wrong with their friend, but wanting to help, they both got up and walked to the window where he was; Tracy sat next to him and Brett leaned against the wall.

"What's wrong, Theo?"

He shrugged. "Nothing."

"That's not true and we all know it. I've ignored it for too long. You are our friend, Theo, we worry about you."

"And I'm thankful for that, but..." he sighed and looked at his friends. "I don't know what's wrong with me."

Brett and Tracy fell silent and looked at each other, but none of them knew what to say. They had never seen Theo looking so defeated; it didn't look good on him. Brett put a hand on his arm and Tracy an arm around his shoulders, trying to comfort him somehow. They weren't good with comforting, none of them were, so they really didn't know what more they could do to show that they were there for Theo, no matter what.

But they didn't need to do more than that, Theo knew that they cared and worried about him and he was really glad that he had them both as friends. Knowing that they were there for him, that they respected his silence and could comfort him without words meant a lot to him.

Theo had always known that he was a Slytherin, the hat had only confirmed it, and ever since first year he had always felt welcomed and at home with the snakes, like it was there where he belonged. But he had never felt quite like this, he had never felt so grateful for the colors he wore; the sorting hat had been right, he had found his true friends amongst Slytherins and, thinking about it, he realized that the house had never meant more to him.

They stayed in silence, looking out the window for some time, with the light weight of comfort above them; and Theo didn't need more.

__________________________

Theo was at the Slytherin table with Tracy, Brett and Josh having lunch. It was Friday, one week of socializing with new people and Brett was telling one of his famous stories, the story of that one time he went to France. Well, he had gone there multiple times, he didn't fail to remember them, but that one time was special.

"Brett, darling, we really don't care about your rendezvous with French girls and boys," Tracy rolled her eyes.

"Shut up, Tracy, even if you aren't interested that doesn't mean Theo and Josh aren't."

"We are not," Theo said without missing a beat.

"Not, really," Josh agreed.

Brett shut up after that, muttering to himself about stupid friends, amazing French girls and handsome French boys while eating his food. He didn't look at his friends for some time, letting his eyes roam the Great Hall and avoiding them, even though he wanted to add something to the conversation sometimes.

"What do you think it's happening?" Brett pointed at the Gryffindor table, completely forgetting just how annoyed by his friends he was.

"Trouble in paradise," Tracy stared at the other table with a frown.

"What do you mean?"

"I think it's something between Hayden and Liam."

"Why do you say that?"

"She looks mad and he looks like he is trying to get a point across."

They all looked at the Gryffindors curiously. They weren't making a scene and if Brett hadn't been observing the other students while not looking at his friends, they wouldn't have noticed that something was happening, but now that they had it was obvious that something wasn't okay and that Hayden and Liam were in the middle of the argument.

"Maybe he cheated," Josh suggested.

"I don't think so," Tracy shook her head. "Liam isn't the cheating type."

"How do you know that?" Brett asked.

"I just think that he appreciates what he has too much and knows the importance everything has. He wouldn't do something that could make him lose her. She is too important.   
He’s not that kind of person."

"How do you know Dunbar so well?" Brett looked at her surprised.

"I don't know him, I'm just assuming," she smirked. "But, to answer your question, it's because I'm observant. Unlike you."

"What do you think, Theo?"

"What?" Theo looked up from his food.

"Do you agree with Tracy?"

Theo knew that she was right; he had spent so much time watching Dunbar that he had picked up some things. Dunbar was the kind of guy that cherished what he had and did everything to keep it with him and out of danger, he wouldn't do something as stupid as cheating. But Theo would never admit just how well he had gotten to know Dunbar just by observing him, it would come out a little weird and his friends would ask him questions, so he wouldn't say any of that.

"I think she might be right," he shrugged.

"OK, then, I give up" Brett raised his hands in surrender with a smile.

They kept eating while keeping an eye on the Gryffindor table, still trying to understand what was happening and speculating about what it could be. Some of their theories were some of the stupidest anyone could have come up with and they had a good laugh about it before anything changed at the other table.

"I'm gonna talk to Hayden," Tracy got up when she saw the girl exiting the Great Hall, calling Hayden’s name and not looking back at her friends.

"Since when are they friends?" Josh looked at Theo, confused.

"I don't know, but let them be," he shrugged. "She needs some girl friends."

"You’re right," Josh nodded. "She needs someone to talk with about makeup and dresses and all that shit that we don't understand."

"At least we will know what happened over there," Brett looked at the Gryffindor table where Mason and Corey were looking sympathetically at Dunbar, who had his head in his hands. They had probably noticed the argument from their own tables and went there to see if their friend needed anything.

"I guess we will," Theo laughed at the smirk on his friend's face.

_________________________

Later that day, Theo, Josh and Brett were sitting in the Slytherin common room, Theo was helping a 1st year with his homework and Brett and Josh were playing chess.

"Do you think it will take Tracy long to come back?" Brett asked while moving one of his pieces.

"I don't know," Josh shrugged. "Why?"

Theo rolled his eyes, already knowing the answer to Josh’s question, and ignored them, focusing on answering the questions of the little boy he was helping.

He had always liked studying in the common room more than studying in the library; he knew that the older Slytherins would always be willing to answer the younger's questions and help them with what they needed. Now that he is one of the older ones, it's his duty to help the little Slytherins.

Some time after that, when the 1st year boy had finished his homework and the chess game had finished with Josh’s victory, the three boys were sitting on the sofas, waiting for Tracy to return.

"Stewart!" Brett called when the girl (finally) got in the common room.

"What do you want, Talbot?" She grinned, knowingly.

"Did you talk to Hayden?"

"Yes, I did," she sat on the sofa next to Theo. "You want to gossip, don't you, Brett?"

"Is that even a question?" He smirked.

“Liam and Hayden broke up," she sighed.

"Why?" Theo asked.

She shrugged.

"Hayden said that their relationship wasn't working. That they are better off as friends."

"Are they okay?" Theo asked after a little silence.

"Are you worried about Gryffindors, Theo?" Josh raised an eyebrow.

"Aren't we supposed to be their friends? That's why I'm asking."

"Anyway, according to Hayden, even though they had an argument, they are both fine and know it was for the best."

"So, Hayden is single now..." Josh smirked.

"Seriously, Josh?" Tracy shook her head. "The girl just got out of a relationship."

"So what? You said that she was fine."

"You're impossible," she laughed.

Theo looked at his laughing friends with raised eyebrows and smiled, forgetting the Gryffindors and shaking his head at the Slytherins, knowing that he couldn't ask for better friends. Even if he made new friends, these three would always be a part of his life and he wouldn't trade them for anything.


	2. Do I Wanna Know

_Have you got color in your cheeks?_  
Do you ever get that feelin' that you can't shift the tide  
That sticks around like summat's in your teeth  
Ah, there's some aces up your sleeve  
Have you no idea that you're in deep  
I dreamt about you nearly every night this week  
How many secrets can you keep? 

_\- Do I Wanna Know by Arctic Monkeys_

"We are going to hang out tonight," was the first thing Brett said when he and Theo sat at the Gryffindor table where Liam Dunbar was eating with Mason Hewitt and Corey Bryant - who seemed to spend more time at the Gryffindor table then at their owns - were eating.

The three of them looked up, startled and surprised to see them at their table. It was rather unusual and a little weird to see Theo and Brett surrounded by people wearing red.

"What?" Liam looked at them confused.

"Don't ask me," Theo shrugged.

It had all been Brett's idea, Theo was just going with it since it was an excuse to go out and have some fun, even if it was with some reckless idiots.

"Since you've broken up with your girlfriend, I think you deserve an only boys night out; so, we are going to hang out," Brett said like it was final, not leaving any room for them to argue.

"What?" Corey asked.

Slytherins inviting then to go out with them? Especially Theo Taken and Brett Talbot? It was like a promise of trouble. 

 

“We have a curfew,” Mason reminded.

"We know what we’re doing. Just trust us,” Brett winked. 

“Meet us in the empty classroom on the seventh floor, try not to get caught.”

“Come on, Theo."

Theo laughed at the confused boys in front of him and then left the table with Brett. The feeling of leaving those two dumbfounded was almost as good as annoying them.

"You're really something, Brett," he shook his head.

"And you only figured that out now?" Brett smirked.

________________________

Theo and Brett were hiding in an empty classroom, waiting for Liam, Corey and Mason to get there.

"Do you think they will come?" Theo asked after ten minutes of waiting.

Theo was starting to doubt that the others would appear; why would they? They had never been friends, - hell, if there is something they never were it's friends, - so why would they want to hang out with them all of a sudden? Why did Theo and Brett and the other Slytherins want to hang out with them all of a sudden? Theo didn't know, and he thought that maybe he would never have the answer to that question, but he would keep hanging out with them, if they let him, because the time they had spent together had been a nice change.

"They will," Brett smirked. "We left then too curious."

"If you say so..." Theo took a gulp of his Butterbeer.

Five minutes after that, Liam and Corey opened the door and widened their eyes a little, when seeing Theo and Brett sitting at one of the tables. They really hadn't expected to see them there, a part of them thought that the Slytherins were just messing with them. With weary steps, they made their way inside the classroom and stopped in front of the two Slytherins. Theo wanted to laugh.

"Surprised to see us here?" Brett smirked.

"Can't say we aren't," Corey said cooly.

"You shouldn't be," Theo shrugged. "We said we would be here, didn't we?"

"Can't really trust Slytherins, can we, Raeken?"

"Liam," Corey warned before Theo could tell Dunbar a piece of his mind about Gryffindors.

“Where’s Mason?” Brett asked.

“He had to help Ravenclaw’s prefect with something, he couldn’t come,” Corey said.

"Ok, we’ll have fun without him,” Brett shrugged. “We're here to drink until we get wasted, to celebrate Liam's break up," Brett glared at both Theo and Liam. "Can you two shut up with that rivalry, or whatever, for one night?"

"Celebrating my break up?" Liam asked dumbfounded.

"It's something we have to celebrate, Liam. You are finally free to do what you want, without that girl all over you!" Brett shrugged like it was obvious.

Brett smirked at Theo after that and winked, making his friend laugh since he already knew what was going to happen. Brett walked up to one of the tables and grabbed the two bottles he had hidden under it so that the other guys wouldn’t notice them as soon as they walked into the classroom.

“How did you manage to bring Firewhiskey into the castle.”

“Fairly easily, if I’m being honest,” Brett smiled.  
“How the hell did you manage to get it in the first place?” Liam’s eyes were wide in surprise.

“You brought it from home?” Corey guessed.

“No, I bought it last week in Hogsmeade.”

"You're telling me that you somehow convinced a shop employee to sell you Firewhiskey?”

“It’s the Talbot charm,” Brett smirked.

They were old enough to drink if they were accompanied by their parents or any other adult, but not old enough to buy Firewhiskey on their own, especially during the school year. There was a policy between Hogwarts and Hogsmeade that prohibited shops and pubs from selling such drinks to students.

“So you flirted with the employee?” 

"I didn't say that," Brett chuckled. "I didn't flirt with her... I just asked for the drinks."

"And she gave it to you?"

"Yes," he said simply.

Theo was sitting on top of a table, watching the conversation go back and forth, an amused expression on his face, hand covering his mouth to stop him from laughing. However, seeing Corey and Liam looking at Brett with dumbfounded expressions and Brett looking back at them with a proud smirk on his face, Theo had to laugh again. Those two really were priceless when they were confused. 

He understood what they were thinking, though, the first time he witnessed Brett getting drinks because of his "charm" he was surprised and wide-eyed, just like the two boys in front of him. It had been back in 5th year when they were only fifteen, they had gone to Hogsmeade and Brett had dragged him into the store where they sold the drinks. Theo stood awkwardly at the door while Brett talked to the employee, knowing fully well that they shouldn’t be there. When they left the store they had a bottle hidden between knew quills and parchment. They had run back to the castle, feeling giddy and had almost tripped on their way to the dungeons, hurrying to get inside the Slytherin common room so that they could go to their dorm and hide the bottle under the bed. Theo had gotten drunk for the first time that night with Brett, Josh and Gabe and they had spent hours giggling into their pillows so that no one would hear them, none of them remembering they could easily cast a silencing charm. The morning after hadn’t been as fun, though, but they had managed. 

Thing is, Theo was used to Brett buying drinks by now, it had happened a lot of times during the rest of 5th, 6th and even 7th year despite the war. It wasn’t news. Theo sometimes wondered if Brett’s parents were acquainted with the shop owner and that was the reason he could get drinks, but when he asked Brett he never gave a real answer.

"So," Brett started while taking a gulp of his drink. "How does it feel to be single, Liam?"

"It doesn't feel that different, really," he shrugged.

"You know that that means that being with her was like being single, right?" Theo asked with a frown, he genuinely had thought that the Gryffindor would be extremely sad over the breakup.

"Theo is right," Corey said after a moment of silence. "You're my best friend and she is a good friend, too, and you know I supported your relationship but, honestly, you were always more like friends than something else."

"Are you actually agreeing with me, Corey?" Theo put a hand on his chest. "I'm touched."

"Don't get used to it," Corey shook his head.

While they were bickering, Liam couldn't help but think that maybe they were right; that dating Hayden hadn't been more than sharing some kisses with a friend.

____________________________

After two hours of being inside the empty classroom, drinking thanks to the Talbot charm, the four boys decided that it was better if they returned to their own common rooms, after all, the teachers would give them months of detention if they were caught outside their bedroom, drinking to make it worse.

"So what did you think of this night?" Brett asked while they were walking down the stairs his elegant steps not showing just how much he had drunk.

"It was a good experience, surprisingly," Corey admitted.

He was walking next to Brett, but his walking was a reflection of the drinks he had drunk.

"I agree, Corey, we will have to do it again. What do you two think?" Brett looked behind his shoulder at Liam and Theo who were walking awkwardly side by side.

"Yeah, I think it's a great idea" Liam nodded while Theo just shrugged.

"Your enthusiasm is astounding, Theo," Brett rolled his eyes with a laugh.

"I'm tired, so can you all stop with the talking and walk a little faster?" Theo narrowed his eyes.

"As the diva wishes." Brett joked making Corey snort.

"Is there a problem, Corey?"

"Not at all, Raeken."

Theo rolled his eyes and turned his glare to Liam when he chuckled.

"What?" He snapped.

"Nothing," Liam had the nerve to grin. "It's good to see that you haven't changed."

"What do you mean, Liam?" He raised his eyebrow.

"I mean that it's comforting to see that some things haven't changed," Liam smiled.

Theo just looked at him weirdly, knowing that Liam was right when he said that it was comforting to see that, after so many changes with the war, some things had stayed the same. Theo had never thought that Liam, out of all people, would understand what he felt, but, somehow, Liam understanding him just made sense to Theo.

Brett and Corey suddenly stopped in the middle of the stairs, still having an apparently interesting conversation, judging by the wild gestures with their hands and arms and the loud voices and laughs. Liam was stopped walking, too, standing quietly next to Theo, sometimes commenting with the other two boys. Theo was glad to see that it wasn't too late, after casting a quick time charm, he really didn't fancy a month worth of detention, however, he knew that they would be there if the two idiots in front of him didn't keep their slightly drunk voices low and started walking again.

"Brett," he called. "Can the two of you shut up?"

"No, Theo, we can not shut up. This conversation is really important."

"Then keep your voices low!"

"Scared of detention, Theo?" Corey smirked.

"Not exactly scared," he scoffed. "I just don't want to sit through detention with the three of you, while I could be doing something different and much more productive," Theo narrowed his eyes. "If you want to stay here, talk loudly and risk getting detention then who am I to stop you. I'm going to bed. Goodnight," and with a superior look he was on his way.

Theo always had the last word; he made sure of it.

"Raeken, wait."

Theo stopped in the middle of the corridor and waited until Liam had caught up with him, not really knowing if he was doing the right thing or if he should be running away.

"I don't want detention, either," he justified. "And their conversation isn't interesting at all."

"Never thought I'd see the day when Liam Dunbar preferred my company instead of Corey's," Theo joked.

He actually joked. With Liam. Maybe he had drunk too much?

"Shut up, Raeken," Liam said, but he was smiling.

It was weird to see Liam smile at something he said, Theo thought he might never get used to it, however, he admitted to himself, even though he liked the comfort of the things that remained the same, he also liked some of the changes.

When they got to the stairway that would lead Liam to the Gryffindor tower, they stopped in front of each other in an awkward silence. None of them knew what to say, they weren't used to being alone with each other and they just stood there looking at one another other, trying to find out what to say.

"I'm going to stay down in the common room for a bit, I might finish my transfiguration essay," Liam started. "Are you going to bed?"

"Like I said before, Liam, I'm tired, so, yes, I'm going to bed. Why, wanna come with me?"

Sometimes, Theo didn't think before he talked; this was one of those times. He wouldn't have said something like that to Liam, of all people, if he had thought before opening his mouth, but, now that the words were out, Theo couldn't help but smirk when he saw the blush on the other boy's face. Teasing Liam was also good, like annoying and confusing him.

"Shut up, Raeken," the still blushing boy said and licked his lips.

Theo's eyes were drawn to the movement and he shook his head as if to get rid of the thoughts he wasn't supposed to be having. Concluding that he had drunk too much since that was the only explanation for such thoughts, Theo decided that it was for the best if he went to bed.

"Well, Liam, as lovely as it is chatting with you," Theo said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "I must go to bed now."

Liam just nodded.

"Goodnight, Theo."

"Goodnight, Liam."

___________________________

Theo was sitting with Tracy and Josh at the Slytherin table, having breakfast while Tracy was telling them some juicy gossip about three Hufflepuffs and their love triangle when Brett and Corey entered the Great Hall.

They were talking quietly among themselves and walking slowly, Corey even rubbed his eyes and yawned on his way to the Hufflepuff table. Brett walked up to the Slytherins and sat in front of Theo, who failed to hide the smirk that appeared on his lips when he saw the grimace on his face and his tired eyes.

"Good morning," he greeted a little louder than he needed to.

Brett just groaned looking annoyed and Tracy, seated next to him, patted his back and raised an eyebrow.

"Did you have a good night?"

The question was directed at Brett, Tracy was trying not to laugh while looking at her friend, amused to see him looking so grumpy, but wanting to know why he looked as tired as he did, although the boy didn't look like he wanted to say any more words.

"It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," Theo answered when he saw that Brett was more asleep than awake and wouldn't talk.

"Well, I had a good time with Hayden," Tracy smiled.

She was happy that she had a female friend again, she loved the three boys sitting with her more than anyone, but it was a little overwhelming not to have other girls to talk to like she did when they were younger.

"You spent the night with her?"

"Don't look so surprised, you are not the only ones with new friends."

"We are hardly friends with them," Theo scoffed.

"Shut up, Theo," Tracy rolled her eyes at him. "Even Josh has made friends among Hufflepuffs."

"Seriously? Who?" Theo turned to the boy next to him.

"Nolan has been helping me with Herbology," he shrugged like it was nothing.

But it was something. Josh had never been one to talk to people just because, he preferred to keep to himself and talk only with a little group of close friends. That's why he was always with Tracy, Theo and Brett, he really didn't need more people around him. He missed Gabe, who had been his friend since he could remember, but he was learning to let go of him and try to find a new friend, someone that could be his friend as much as the Slytherins, someone who he could talk to. Gabe would always be his friend, even after dying during the battle of Hogwarts, but Nolan was a good person and, if he could get some help with Herbology out of the friendship, then that was even better.

"Look at us! Getting along with the other houses, who would have thought," Brett said sleepily. "Now can the three of you shut up?"

"Such a good mood!" Tracy said sarcastically.

Brett flipped her the finger and she shook her head, amused by her friend's actions. Brett was always fun to mess with when he was tired and if he was hungover then it was even better.

"Do you want to go to the library after classes?" Theo asked after some time. "I have to study."

"I can't," Brett mumbled.

"Why?"

"Detention," he looked at Theo's raised eyebrow. "Filch caught us."

"Told you so," Theo smirked and Brett just groaned again.

"Don't be an arse, Theo," Tracy scolded even though she was trying not to laugh.

"What?" he grinned. "If he had gone to the common room when I did, he wouldn't have been caught."

"Okay, Raeken, you were right," Brett rolled his eyes and smiled sarcastically. "Now, can you shut your mouth?"  
__________________________

"I told Hayden we were coming here, so they will probably be there as well," Tracy grabbed her books when she saw Theo.

Tracy and Josh were sitting on the stairs, Brett had just gone to detention and they were waiting for Theo, who had gone to the bathroom. They were going to the library like they had planned, but Tracy thought it would be good to have some company and that is how she ended up telling Hayden.

"Never thought you would like to hang out with Gryffindors, Tracy," Theo chuckled when they started walking.

"They are okay," she shrugged. "And I think it's good to hang out with new people."

"Yeah, it was time for us to start talking with different people," Josh agreed.

"Tired of us, Josh?" Theo raised an eyebrow.

"Yes," he said simply and Tracy smacked the back of his head.

When they got to the library the others were already there like Tracy had said, and the Slytherins walked to the table where they were talking in whispers among themselves.

"Hello," Tracy greeted when she sat down next to Hayden.

Josh claimed the chair next to Nolan and Theo sat between his two friends.

"What are you guys studying?" Liam asked.

"Nolan is helping me with Herbology," Josh opened one of his books.

"I have a Transfiguration essay to write," Tracy sighed.

"I also have to finish mine," Mason grinned at Tracy. "And I was going to help Hayden with hers, do you want to work with us?"

Tracy nodded and the three of them started scattering their books and parchments on the table. 

"What about you, Raeken?"

"Potions."

"Me too," Liam looked at him thoughtfully. "Nolan, do you mind switching places with Theo so I can work with him?"

"Did it occur to you that maybe I don't want to work with you, Liam?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Don't be difficult, Theo," Tracy glared.

He just rolled his eyes and got up to change places with Nolan. After some time of studying, Liam and Theo in silence and the others in whispers, Liam poked Theo on the arm, trying to get his attention, but Theo ignored him the best he could.

"Raeken."

"Leave me alone, Dunbar, I'm trying to study," he glared.

"Just help me with this and I'll leave you alone," he promised.

Theo sighed.

"What do you want, Liam?" He marked the page and closed the book before looking at the boy.

"Can you explain this to me?" Liam pointed to one of the passages.

"Read ‘Potions and other Brewings’, you have it explained there," Theo opened his book again and looked down at it.

"You're going to make me find the book, find the explanation and all that, instead of just explaining it to me?" Liam scoffed.

"Exactly," Theo answered simply, not even taking his eyes from the book.

"Should have expected it," Liam shook his head and got up to fetch the book.

After Liam had left the table, Tracy coughed and Theo looked up at her, only to see her already looking at him with a glare that he understood too well.

"Okay, okay," he rolled his eyes. "I'll help him." 

"Good," she said and then turned to Mason.

With an annoyed sigh, Theo got up and headed to the shelves where the potions books were, to tell Liam that he would help him (and that the book he was trying to find was already on their table). When Theo saw Liam though, he stopped in his tracks, barely managing to stop his mouth from hanging open at the sight that greeted him. Liam was bending down, looking at the books on the lower shelves, and Theo felt his self-control being tested. He took a deep breath and gulped; he didn't really know why he was feeling hot inside just by seeing Dunbar like that, - well, he had an idea, but it was Dunbar and he didn't want to think about it, he really didn't want his suspicions to be truth. 

"Well, Liam, if you wanted to bend down for me you could have just said," he said before he could stop himself.

Startled, Liam jumped when he heard Theo and, after the boy's words processed in his mind, his cheeks started coloring and he blinked, not really knowing what to say. He wasn't used to this kind of jokes and he sure as hell wasn't used to Theo and Slytherins being friendly and joking with him.

"Hum... What?... What are you doing here?" he stuttered.

"Always so eloquent," Theo shook his head, but anyone could see the amusement on his face.

"Do you need a book? Maybe I saw it while searching for the one you told me."

"No, I actually came to find you," Theo leaned against the shelves.

"Hmm, okay. What do you need?" Liam put the book he had on his hands back on the shelf when he saw it wasn't the one he was looking for.

"You can come back to the table; I have the book you need there."

Liam huffed. "You did it on purpose didn't you?"

"Of course not," Theo smiled cheekily.

"Of course," Liam laughed.

And, in that moment, they failed to realize that it was probably the first laugh they had had together. They were laughing together when they were alone, at a funny conversation that was only theirs and no one else's; they were laughing with each other and not at each other. And, if they had really thought about it, they would have seen that the possibility of it happening again, the possibility of more inside jokes between them, wasn't as weird and as stupid as it had been some time ago.

____________________________

Theo woke up with a groan the next morning, his roommates were already up and he could hear them talking and moving around. He knew he had to get up and get ready for classes too, but the idea of staying in bed, after a night like the one he had had was much more appealing.

It wasn't like he had never had a dream like that, he was a teenage boy, after all, it was natural. However, this time was different from the other ones, not because of the way he woke up, but because of the person he had dreamt about.

Usually, his dreams didn't focus on the person's face, but on their bodies or dicks, so it's basically faceless people, most of the times; there were also times where he had dreamt about some really hot Quidditch player, but those were normal too. Now Dunbar? That wasn't normal at all.

"Theo!" Brett called from the other side of the curtain.

"I'm up," he called back.

"Hurry up, or we will go without you," he warned.

"You can go; you know I take some time to get ready."

"Oh, believe me, I know that too well, diva," Brett snorted.

"Shut the fuck up, Brett," Theo grumbled.

He heard him laugh and exiting the dormitory with the other boys, before taking a deep breath and getting up. Annoyed by his hard dick, that didn't let him walk properly, Theo grabbed his clothes and exited the room walking to the bathroom.

He locked the door with a wave of his wand and turned the shower on, the water cold. He undressed his pajamas and his boxers, sighing when his cock was free and walked to the shower. The not too hot water fell on his back and he flinched a little from the difference between it and his body heat; he liked hot showers the best, but he knew that he didn't need the water to be hot, considering what he would be doing.

Knowing that he would be late anyway, Theo cast a privacy charm on the bathroom before throwing his wand to the floor and moving his hand down his body, not wasting time with teasing and grabbing his dick with his right hand.

While moving his hand, Theo's mind kept going back to the boy that had been in his mind the whole night in his dreams, even though he was trying to stop the thoughts. Theo could only blame himself for not being able to take his eyes and mind off of Liam. The guy was hot, but Theo should be able to control himself.

After some time, Theo moaned and let go, releasing and sighing in relief, Liam's image still in his mind.

He waited a minute for his breathing to return to normal before finishing his shower and dressing the clothes he had brought with him.

He would have to make up an excuse to cover up why he had missed his first class and he would have to find a way to get Liam out of his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An awkward piece of smut for you guys. Anyway, smut aside, what did you think? Thoughts?


	3. fallingforyou

_Don't you see me I  
I think I'm falling, I'm falling for you  
And don't you need me I  
I think I'm falling, I'm falling for you  
On this night, and in this light  
I think I'm falling (I think I'm falling), I'm falling for you  
And maybe you, change your mind   
(I think I'm falling, I think I'm falling)_  
...  
 _According to your heart_  
My place is not deliberate  
Feeling of your arms  
I don't want to be your friend, I want to kiss your neck

\- fallingforyou by The 1975

_________

The news going around Hogwarts was that some 7th year Slytherins were organizing a party with the Headmistress' permission to promote house unity. Theo laughed when he overheard three fourth year Hufflepuffs talking about it in one of the corridors between classes.

Well, it wasn't a lie. They were going to throw a party in the Room of Requirement and all the 6th and 7th years were invited, so it kind of promoted house unity. Or at least that's what Tracy had told the Headmistress when she asked for permission to use the Room.

It had all been Tracy's idea and, knowing her, Theo was a little scared of what the outcome would be. When she gathered the 7th year Slytherins in the common room, she promised a night of fun and games without any worries; the only thing she asked them to do was spread the word to the other houses 7th years as well as to the 6th years and find a way to get drinks (she had looked pointedly at Brett on that last part). Of course, the word had spread through the whole school and not only through the older students.

Theo shook his head and kept walking to his next class, trying not to worry too much about the party and what would come with it. The problem wasn't that Theo didn't like to party; no, Theo actually liked it, but when it involved the number of people this one did, as well as drinks and games and when it was planned by Tracy, Theo couldn't help but being a little weary about it.

In the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, the 7th year students were already sitting and waiting for the professor when Theo arrived. He looked around the room, looking for his friends, but stopped in his tracks when he saw them. Tracy was sitting next to Hayden, Josh and Brett behind them and Liam and Mason in front of them and Corey next to other Hufflepuff on a table near theirs. Theo blinked at the sight of green, red, yellow and blue mixing together, the sight that was becoming more and more familiar and usual as time passed.

He wasn’t used to being surrounded by yellows, blues, and much fewer reds, but it was a nice change. Theo found that he liked the sight of the four colors together, just as much as he was liking to get to know new people, even if he would never admit it out loud.

"Have you traded me for Hayden, Tracy?" Theo pouted when he stopped near their table. "I'm hurt."

"If you were here on time, maybe this wouldn't have happened," she shrugged.

"The professor isn't here, is he?" Theo smirked. "Therefore, I am on time."

"You're an idiot, Theo," Tracy laughed.

"I must be spending too much time with you then, dear," he winked.

After giving the people who were so different but that were sitting together one last look, Theo turned on his heels and walked up to the empty seat next to Nolan, who gave him a slightly surprised look. Theo understood, it wasn’t every day that Theo Raeken sat willingly next to a Hufflepuff, much less one from the little pack his new acquaintances were part of.

"Don't look so surprised, Holloway."

"Kind of hard not to be, Theo," he shrugged, but there was a careful smile on his face that showed that he, too, liked the prospect of new friendships.

Theo was going to answer him, but the professor entered the classroom, apologizing for his lateness and started the lesson, not giving Theo the chance to say anything.

______________

"Theo Raeken, were you sitting with Nolan Holloway in DADA?" Brett fake gasped when they were sitting in the Slytherin common room.

"Is there a problem?" Theo raised an eyebrow.

"Not at all," Brett chuckled.

"It's weird," Josh said suddenly.

"What?"

"We've been talking to people outside of Slytherin more than we ever have; we're friends with people from other houses... those people are Liam Dunbar and his sidekicks, nonetheless."

"Yeah," Brett agreed. "You're right."

"And look at Tracy now," Josh continued. "She is planning an inter-house party, asking the girls from the other houses if they have tips."

"This year is so different. I'm still trying to understand if it's for the better or not." "I think it's still too early to answer that," Brett shrugged. "It's been cool, the other 7th years aren't that bad; it's good to hang out with them, but we never know."

Theo just nodded, agreeing silently with Josh and Brett. While they were silent, Tracy walked up to them and sat on a chair in front of them.

"What are you guys talking about?" she asked them.

"Inter-house unity," Theo shrugged.

She raised an eyebrow.

"Okay," she trailed off. "But speaking of that..." 

"What now, Tracy?" 

"Do you have the drinks?" she asked Brett.

"The party is tomorrow night, I'll get them tomorrow."

"You better, Talbot," she threatened.

"I will don't worry," he winked. "I wouldn't pass the opportunity to drink, you know that."

Tracy just laughed and shook her head, knowing better than anyone that Brett wasn't lying. 

Tracy and Brett had known each other since they were kids. Their parents had attended Hogwarts at the same time and, during their student years, had become really close. They ended up moving to the same neighborhood after they got married and Tracy and Brett had, therefore, grown up together. From the moment Theo had met them, he had known that they were a good team and that they could plot anything and make it work. Their friendship was really strong and had been there for so many years that Theo doubted anything would ever get in between his two friends. 

After the laughter died down, Tracy sighed and rested her head on her hands with a worried expression on her face.

"Tracy?" Josh called.

"Hum."

"What's wrong?"

"Do you think the party will be good?"

"You planned it, Tracy," Theo smiled. "Of course it will be good."

She just smiled back weakly.

"You have been throwing amazing parties in the Slytherin common room since you were 14 and they were always amazing," Theo comforted. "I'm sure this one will be just as good or even better."

"I really want this to work, guys."

Josh nodded and got up to sit next to her. 

"You want the houses to forget about the animosity between them and get together," he stated, grabbing her hand and squeezing it reassuringly. "You want us all to be friends more than ever before."

"I have always wanted to hang out with people from the other houses," she explained. "I know sometimes I hung out with Ravenclaws, and there was even the odd Hufflepuff, but I always felt like I should keep to the Slytherin circle."

"And even if we wanted to hang out with people from the other houses, they were always wary of us," Josh added.

Neither of the Slytherins said anything after that, silently agreeing with what Tracy and Josh had said, having felt it before.

All of them loved being Slytherins and they couldn’t be prouder of the colors they wore, however, that didn’t mean that there weren’t things that they didn’t like. Probably what they hated the most was the house prejudice. From the moment they had been sorted into the house they had to get used to the nasty looks and side glances other students threw their way. They were labeled as evil the moment the Sorting Hat had screamed “Slytherin” when it was on top of their heads. They grew up feeling like some of their classmates didn’t trust them, all because of the house reputation.

Maybe that was the reason why Slytherins are so close to each other and support each other, their housemates were the only ones who always understood them so they had to be there for each other. 

"Things are different this year," she smiled faintly to ease the tension. "This has to work."

"It will work," Josh assured.

_____________

"I'm trusting you on this," the Headmistress looked at them pointedly. "I hope you don't make me regret it."

"We won't, Headmistress," Tracy assured, it was still early so the four Slytherins were the only ones there.

She had trusted that they could keep themselves out of trouble and have fun without making too many bad decisions. However, she wasn’t a fool and she knew that the party wouldn’t be a simple get together to study, she knew that there were drinks somewhere, but, as long as she didn’t see them, she would keep a blind eye. The students deserved to relax and the four houses together in a party could be the first step towards the end of the animosity between the houses.

Professor McGonagall looked at them again one last time, warning in her eyes, before she turned around and left them in front of the Room of Requirement. 

After the war there probably wasn’t anyone at Hogwarts who didn’t know about the Room of Requirement, it had become a quite famous room. They knew the story of what had happened inside on the day of the Battle of Hogwarts, but the fire had been extinguished and the staff had made sure that the room could still do what it did before. There were some changes, the room didn’t work as well as before, understandably, but it was safe to be inside of it and the Slytherins had decided that it was the best place to hold the party since people from all the houses could go in there.

"Stand back, let me be the one asking for the room," Tracy said.

The three boys smiled while looking at their friend, proud to see her so determined to achieve House Unity and give them all a good time with this party; it was unlike the Tracy from some years ago. That Tracy was more selfish, focusing mostly on herself and her goals, forgetting the people that weren't her friends or family, and, while that could be a good thing sometimes and get her higher in life, it didn't work exactly on her favor on other aspects. This Tracy was more mature, she still used her ambition for her own goals, but she also focused more on her friends, family, housemates and, now, the new people she was starting to become friends with, she was determined to see the four houses working together and she wouldn’t stop until she achieved it.

"You can come now," she called them back when she finished asking the Room what she wanted.

Tracy was standing there with a proud smile on her face. In front of her, there was a black door with silver and green designs. The boys smirked.

"I had to show that this was planned by a Slytherin," she explained. "Someone has to stay here and wait for the others," she added.

If they closed the door it would disappear and no one would be able to get inside, so they had to keep it open, but it would be better if someone stayed outside and waited for the other people who would come.

"I'll do it," Josh shrugged. "I can be your guard."

"If people are too late, you get in and close the door; next time, they'll know to get here on time," Brett said.

"So there will be more parties?" Theo smirked.

"Of course, there will be," Brett winked. “I’ll make sure of it.”

"The three of us will plan the next one," Josh suggested since this party had mostly been Tracy’s plan.

Theo and Brett shared a look with him and the three smiled mischievously, already having ideas popping into their heads.

"Next time it's all yours," Tracy chuckled. "I had enough headaches for some time."

The three of them entered the Room, leaving Josh at the door to make sure people knew where the party was and that only 6th and 7th years would come in. Inside, Theo and   
Brett looked impressed around the Room, while Tracy did the same but with a proud expression on her face. 

"It looks good," she smiled. "Could be better, but considering what happened here last year, I can't ask for more."

Theo looked around the room, he never doubted that Tracy would plan an amazing party, but she had gone all out. 

The floor was made of what seemed like dark wood, the tables were silver and they seemed to glow with the colorful lights that danced around the room. Tracy had somehow managed to make the lights shine in a way that wasn’t overwhelming and didn’t hurt their eyes or make their head hurt. It wasn’t like the environment at the muggle place they had visited that Summer.

“Did you use that muggle place as inspiration?” Brett raised an eyebrow, thoughts going through the same line as Theo’s.

“Yeah, I used it as inspiration for what I shouldn’t do,” she smirked, clearly pleased with the result.

"I think you did an amazing work, Tracy," Theo smiled at his friend.

Theo, Brett and Tracy took a while to make the room ready to host a party. They conjured glasses and set them on the tables, as well as the drinks Brett had gotten and the snacks Tracy had bought on the last Hogsmeade trip, already planning a party without anyone knowing. They got the music ready to play as soon as people started walking in and cast a silencing charm so that the noise couldn’t be heard from the outside.

After some time of going around the room to make sure that everything was perfect, they were interrupted by a knock on the open door, Liam, Hayden and Mason standing in the doorway.

"Are we early?" Hayden asked.

"Not by much," Tracy smiled. "We were just finishing the last details."

"Need help?" Liam volunteered. 

"No, don't worry," Brett sat on the couch near the door. "It's finished, now we just have to wait for the others to get here."

As soon as he talked, the noise of conversations was heard outside the Room followed by Nolan and Corey entered the room with some other Hufflepuffs, followed by a group of Gryffindors soon after.

__________

"Why don't we play a game?" Tracy suggested.

"What game?" Brett asked while sitting on the floor, showing that he would agree to any game she had in mind.

Hayden sat next to him right after, some other people following their lead.

“Truth or dare?” A 7th year Ravenclaw suggested.

"Ok," Theo shrugged and sat down, as did almost everyone.

Left standing were just Nolan and Mason and a few others who looked weary of the game.

"Are there any rules?" Hayden asked.

"Rules don't bother you that much, do they, Romero? I mean, you sat down without knowing them," Tracy smirked.

"I guess you could say that," Hayden laughed.

"But, about the rules," Tracy continued. "You’ll get to choose between truth or dare, but if you refuse to answer your truth you have to do two dares. If you refuse to do the dares, you’re out of the game.”

Some people whined at that, clearly not wanting to be forced to do any dares but also not wanting to lose the game.

After getting some encouraging glances from friends at the circle on the floor, almost everyone sat down, only three people deciding that they didn’t want to play.

"Why don't we make things more interesting?" Brett smirked once everyone was settled and Tracy had waved her wand to start the music.

Josh, sitting next to him, chuckled while Tracy and Theo shook their heads, already knowing what their friend was going to suggest.

"Every time someone refuses to answer a truth, they have to do the two dares and also drink.”

There were some murmurs around the circle, some agreeing and some disagreeing with Brett’s suggestion, but he kept the smirk on his face.

"I don't drink," one of the 6th year Gryffindors said quickly.

"Then you will just have to answer," one of the Ravenclaw girls smiled.

"Do you all agree to play then?" Tracy asked.

Everyone agreed, some more confident than others, and, with a flick of Brett’s wand, the glasses came flying from the table, stopping in front of each one of the players, the bottles with firewhiskey being caught by the four Slytherins in charge of the party. 

“Let the party start!” Tracy winked, pouring some Firewhiskey on her glass, passing the bottle to the Hufflepuff sitting next to her.

Brett put his wand in the middle and spun it once to get the game started, the two people who the wand pointed to were a Ravenclaw and a Gryffindor boys, the Ravenclaw being the one who had to answer.

“Truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“What was the first impression you had of Brett.”

He looked at Brett and blinked, thinking about what he should say.

“I thought you were an asshole who was full of himself and liked to brag about every aspect of his life.”

“Can’t say you’re wrong,” Brett shrugged.

He wasn’t surprised by what the Ravenclaw had said. The image he passed to people was exactly the one the boy had described and he liked it. He liked that there was an image that everyone knew, but an image that was different from his true self. He liked that only the people who were close to him knew how he really was.

The Ravenclaw spun the wand, to see who he would have to ask and it stopped on Tracy.

“Dare,” she said without even letting him ask.

“Pretend to be a dog and sniff the next two people who have to answer.”

Some snorts and laughs could be heard around the room, everyone obviously finding the dare amusing.

“I’ll do it, now give me the wand.”

The wand stopped on Brett and a smirk stretched on Tracy’s face. She got up to sniff him and the room burst into laughter, Brett patting her head and saying “Good girl” making the situation even funnier.

“I want a dare, doggie,” he laughed when Tracy held her middle finger up.

“Take someone else’s socks off with your teeth.”

“Tracy,” he whined.

“Do it!”

He glared at her but moved until he was in front of Theo and told him to take his shoes off. Theo did, trying not to laugh at Brett’s disgusted expression while he lowered his face towards his foot. His expression didn’t change while he did the dare and when he finished taking Theo’s socks off he threw them at Tracy’s face, but she just kept laughing at him, making everyone in the circle laugh even more.

“Nolan, truth or dare?” Brett asked, lips in a pout, while Tracy sniffed Nolan, muffled laughter sounding around the room again.

“Truth.”

“Tell us something you have never told anyone.”

“Do I have to?”

“You can always do two dares.”

“Ok, well,” he stuttered, a thoughtful expression on his face. “So, there was this time when my mom had left her earrings in the bathroom and I picked them up to play with them. Thing is, while I played with them one of them slipped out of my hand and fell in the sink. I think you can guess what happened next. I was five years old at the time. My mom asked me and my father if we had seen her lost earring, but I acted as if I didn’t know anything. To this day she still thinks that she lost it.”

“Who knew that you had a little rebel inside of you,” Josh laughed, amused by the story.

Nolan rolled his eyes, but there was a soft smile on his face. He spun the wand.

“Karl.”

It went on for a few more turns, a Hufflepuff had to put his pants on backwards and leave them like that until the end of the game, a Gryffindor had to jump around the room for a minute, Corey had to tell them what his pajamas were like, Mason had to confess what turned him on and Hayden had to trade shirts with a Slytherin boy

“Liam,” Hayden called.

“I want a dare.”

Hayden looked around the circle with a thoughtful expression on her face. Her eyes roaming around the faces of the people around her until they stopped on Theo and a mischievous smirk made its way to her face. She looked like Tracy did whenever she plotted something particularly humiliating or extremely devilish.

“I dare you to hold hands with Theo for the rest of the game.”

Theo heard Tracy snort next to him and glared at her, making her shrug innocently. He looked at Liam then, wanting to see the boy’s reaction, expecting him to be angry and glaring at his ex-girlfriend. However, it hadn’t crossed his mind that he could find Liam like he was now, flustered and looking at the floor, not meeting anyone’s eye.

“Are you going to do it?” Josh asked.

Liam seemed to hesitate.

“Where is that Gryffindor courage and competitiveness?” Mason laughed at his best friend.

Everyone except Theo and Liam seemed to be finding the situation amusing. Liam grumbled something under his breath, some colorful words heard by the others, and he got up from his place in the circle. Students looked at him curiously, wondering if he would leave the game or even the party or if he was going to do his dare.

Of course, Liam Dunbar, ever the Gryffindor chose the last option and he walked around the circle until he was behind Theo. Sarcastic comments started appearing in Theo’s mind, each better than the last one, all to make fun of Liam.

“Move,” he said to Tracy.

She got up and sat on the place Liam had left vacant so that he could sit next to Theo. Theo was almost certain that he had seen her high five Hayden, but he would try not to think about it. To be honest, he wouldn’t be able to think about it even if he wanted to, at least not now that Liam had moved his right hand and had taken a hold of his left one.   
There was a scowl on his face and his eyes never looked in Theo’s direction, but his hand was warm against his and his knee was touching Theo’s softly and all the incredible comebacks that had been in Theo’s mind before evaporated.

With his left hand, Liam spun the wand and he narrowed his eyes when it stopped on Theo.

“Raeken.”

“I want a dare,” he smirked. 

“Dance to the next song that comes on, whatever it is.”

“Admit it, you just want to see me dancing.”

“You wish.”

The group waited to hear what song Theo would have to dance. Would it be a slow song? Maybe a sexy one? One that no one knows how to dance to? 

Theo got up, letting go of Liam's hand, and stood in the middle of the circle, Brett grabbing his wand so that it wouldn't be damaged. When the song started, Theo couldn't help the loud laugh that left him, almost getting out of breath when he heard Liam groan. This song hadn't been in his plans for sure. 

_I'm just a bachelor_  
I'm looking for a partner  
Someone who knows how to ride  
Without even falling off 

Theo started by sawing his hips to the rhythm and moving his feet a little. He moved a hand to his hair and gave a seductive look to the Ravenclaw girl that was in front of him, making her blush madly. His hand dropped to his chest then, moving down slowly, resting briefly on his stomach before he moved it south again, obscenely gripping his clothed dick through this pants. He let go and swayed some more to the song before dropping slowly to the floor a giving a seductive look again. He got up and moved his hands up his sides, before moving them down and raising his shirt a little, giving the circle a look of his abs. He turned so that he was looking at the place where Liam was, winking and smirking in his direction, gripping his dick one last time, extremely satisfied with the way Liam widened his eyes and groaned. 

_If you're horny, let's do it_  
Ride it, my pony  
My saddle's waiting  
Come and jump on it 

After the song finished, Theo sat down on his place again, laughing at the number of catcalls that could be heard, and grabbed Liam's hand again, surprised to feel that it was sweaty unlike before. He asked for Brett’s wand and spun it. 

“Ok, Josh, I dare you to tell Nolan a pickup line.”

“I didn't even say if I wanted a dare.”

“I know you do,” Theo shrugged. 

Josh chuckled and turned to Nolan, a flirtatious smile on his face. Nolan visibly gulped and blushed even before Josh started talking.

“Interested in making some magic together? My wand is at the ready.”

The people laughed again, both at the pickup line and at the blush that got even redder on Nolan’s face.

The game ended with that dare, everyone grew tired of the game even though they had had fun. The game really had brought them together. Students from the four different houses sat together in the circle, sharing stories and laughs, creating fun memories. All of them had smiles on their faces when the game ended and, since the night still wasn't over, there was a promise of more good times. 

_______________

“It's nice, isn't it?” Liam asked, coming to a stop next to Theo on the dance floor.

His friends had left him alone in order to go mingle with other people. Josh was talking to Nolan near the snacks table, Tracy was dancing near some Hufflepuffs and Brett was dancing with a Ravenclaw girl. It seemed like Liam's friends had also left him, Mason's back was turned to Theo, but he didn't need to be a genius to know what was happening there when he noticed Corey’s feet and understood the boy was in front of Mason, against the wall. 

“What is nice?”

“This. The party. All the houses together, having fun with each other.”

Theo looked around. Liam was right, all the houses were mixed together. You couldn't say which ones were Ravenclaws or which ones were Hufflepuffs, you couldn't see a single group that didn't have people from two different houses, at least. It was an amazing sight, there was yellow and green and red and blue, all coming together and making something powerful.

“You're right. It's good to see everyone getting along.”

“I'm glad Tracy organized this party,” Liam smiled. “Playing truth or Dare with all of you was really cool. Getting to know people better and just having a good time.”

“Are you sure you're not only saying that because you loved watching my lovely performance and holding my hand, Dunbar?” Theo winked. 

He really liked to tease Liam. The boy got all flustered and started stuttering an answer, not really knowing what to say, he would move his weight from one foot to the other, while looking everywhere but at Theo. It was entertaining to watch.

“Of course not, Raeken,” he scoffed. 

“If you say so,” Theo shrugged. 

Liam looked like he wanted to punch him in the face, maybe to wipe the smirk that had plastered itself there. But Theo couldn't care less, he was having too much fun. He was having fun with Liam Dunbar, of all people, and he planned to enjoy the unusual occurrence. 

“Guys,” their conversation was interrupted by Tracy's loud voice, using an amplifying charm to be heard all around the room. “Grab the person closest to you and let's dance.”

Theo saw her looking right at him and wink, her right hand motioning subtly at Liam. She looked like she had been plotting and had him right where she wanted him to be. For some reason, Tracy seemed to like the idea of Theo and Liam together, she looked like she was enjoying putting them together and, when Theo saw her high five Hayden, he knew she wasn’t the only one with weird plans.

The song that had been playing changed then, turning from a catchy song to jump around while pretending to dance, to a slow song that had a romantic vibe to it and proposed a dance between partners. 

Theo looked at the person closest to him, Liam, who was looking everywhere but at him, looking even more embarrassed than moments ago, and all he saw was an adorable sight in front of him, so he didn’t hesitate. If asked, Theo would say that he did it only with the purpose of embarrassing Liam eve further, but the truth was another one.

Theo took a step in Liam’s direction, making him finally raise his head enough to meet his eyes. There was tension between them, something heavy and palpable. Something that they couldn’t name, but couldn’t ignore either.

_I'll be your dream, I'll be your wish, I'll be your fantasy.  
I'll be your hope, I'll be your love, be everything that you need._

Their eyes met. An invisible string binding them together. Theo didn’t really know what was happening, he didn’t know why he was feeling like that around Liam. What was that idiotic Gryffindor doing to him?

Theo wanted to ignore it, he wanted to turn around and go do something, he wanted to forget what was happening, but he just couldn’t. So he didn’t.

_Oh, can you see it, baby?_  
You don't have to close your eyes  
'Cause it's standing right before you.  
All that you need will surely come 

Theo took one more step, stopping right in front of Liam, a few breaths away. His heart was beating fast, but Theo wouldn’t dwell too much on it, he wouldn’t chicken out of something he actually wanted to do, for some inexplicable reason. 

He took a deep breathe and raised his arms, hands resting on Liam’s waist, feeling the boy in front of him take in a shaky breath, face red and eyes wide. He looked beautiful in the colorful shining lines, Theo realized.

Slowly, Liam’s arms raised to go around Theo’s shoulders, hands resting softly on his neck. They kept unmoving for a few seconds, not really knowing how to act. 

Surprisingly, it was Liam who took the next step, probably his Gryffindor courage showing itself. He stepped even closer to Theo, chests almost touching and eyes not leaving each other. 

They started swaying to the song then. Hips moving to the slow rhythm, hands carefully touching skin and clothing. Theo gasped when Liam lowered his head, his forehead resting on Theo’s chest, no doubt feeling his heart beating too fast beneath the skin.

It was a nice, slow dance. Dancing with Liam was amazing, better than Theo could have ever imagined and a little part of him was wondering if they would ever get to dance like this again or it would be just a one-time thing. Theo didn’t want it to be just a one-time thing.

_I want to stand with you on a mountain_  
I want to bathe with you in the sea.  
I want to live like this forever.  
Until the sky falls down on me 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the biggest chapter I have ever written in my life, hope it turned out any good.
> 
> I want to thank my packmates, cause they gave me the idea for the songs, so thanks, guys! 
> 
> The songs features are "Pony" by Genuwine and "Truly Madly Deeply" by Savage Garden
> 
> One of my friends told me that my Slytherin was showing through this chapter, was it?
> 
> I shamelessly used a Truth or Dare app cause I couldn't come up with anything for the game.
> 
> Also, I'm so tired of this damn chapter that I didn't reread so I'm sorry if it's a mess in some parts, maybe one of this days I'll edit it.
> 
> Anyway, thanks everyone for all the love, I appreciate every single one of you a lot!


	4. Never Be The Same

Something must've gone wrong in my brain  
Got your chemicals all in my veins  
....  
It's you, babe  
And I'm a sucker for the way that you move, babe  
And I could try to run, but it would be useless  
You're to blame  
Just one hit of you, I knew I'll never be the same

\- Never Be The Same by Camila Cabello

___________

It was the day after the party and Tracy, Brett, Theo and Josh were sitting in the Slytherin common room, Tracy with her legs crisscrossed on the floor and the three boys in front of her in the couch. Both Tracy and Brett had packages full of candy on their hands that their parents had sent them and they were sharing with the other two boys. It was a habit they had since first year, every time they received candy from home they would share with each other, and they still did it to these days.

They had decided that saying inside the common room was the best decision for the day for a diversity of reason.

Firstly, they were tired after the party. It had ended late and they had gone to bed in the early morning, sleeping in until it was almost time for lunch, so they really didn’t want to do anything that would take too much energy. They just wanted to relax and not worry about anything, except maybe for homework later.

They also wanted to let the students from the other houses talk about the party without the people who organized it being near them. They wanted the other students to gossip about the party, maybe tell the younger people and the ones who had skipped the party how good it had been. They wanted them to show the school that Slytherins could be good and plot good things. The party had also been for that reason. It had had the purpose of having fun and unifying the houses, but it was also to show a different side of the Slytherin house, the side that could have fun and that would be nice to people, the side that so many Slytherins had but never showed because they were never given a chance to.  
The weather had been the last push they needed to be completely against leaving the common room. It was nearing the end of October and both the grey clouds that covered the sky and the wind that rippled through the trees invited the Hogwarts students to stay inside the castle. It was cold outside, so staying in the common room near the fireplace was the best place to be.

“I’m really glad the party went well,” Tracy said while looking through the candy until she found her favourite.

Even though they had tried to stay positive and not let doubt get them down and even though they never showed how afraid of the outcome they were, they had still worried that the party would have been a complete distaste. From people leaving in the middle of the party, to insults being thrown around and fights breaking out, almost every horrible scenery had gone through their heads at least once. To see that the party had been a success was a relief for them, it had been all they wanted and having it was an amazing feeling.

“It was a really good party,” Josh agreed. “I had a lot of fun.”

“With Nolan, wasn’t it?” Tracy smirked.

“He’s cute,” Josh shrugged with a grin.

“Who would have thought that what the three of you needed to finally go down the romance lane was a party with people from the other houses,” Brett smirked.

“What romance lane?” Theo asked.

“Why aren’t you including yourself in that sentence?” Tracy raised her eyes from the bag of candy to meet Brett’s mischievous gaze.  
Brett grinned, the questions obviously amusing him to no end.

“To answer your question, Tracy,” he decided to answer hers first since Theo’s reaction would certainly be funnier. “I didn’t include myself because I didn’t need help from a party to go down the romance lane. I don’t need any help with that, I just have to go outside.”

“You’re awfully conceited, idiot,” Tracy slapped his knee.

“Seventeen years of friendship and this is how you treat me?” Brett put a hand on his chest over his heart. “You wound me.”

“Stop being a big baby,” she slapped his knee again.

He stuck his tongue out childishly and she rolled her eyes. It was always amusing to watch Tracy and Brett bickering, they were like the annoying cousins who were always throwing insults back and forth but that no one told to stop because it was funny to watch them getting worked up.

“Now, Theo,” Brett turned to look at him. “Don’t act all innocent, you know exactly what I’m talking about.”

“Do I?” Theo raised an eyebrow.

“Does the name Liam Dunbar ring any bells?”

“It rings some, yes.”

Brett looked at him unimpressed and Theo tried not to laugh.

“But, seriously now,” Tracy interrupted. “What was all that with Liam?”

“It was mostly yours and Hayden’s doing,” he said.

“And you should be thanking us,” Tracy shrugged. “You enjoyed every minute you spent near him.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he scoffed.

“Are you seriously going to try and deny it?” Josh asked in disbelief.

They all knew that Theo had liked to spend time with Liam, they were always bickering but they managed to go a night without getting at each other’s throats. On the contrary, actually, they had managed to talk calmly and not get on each other’s nerves. And they had danced together. The three of them had seen the dance and the look on their friend’s face.

Tracy rolled her eyes.

“You enjoyed it, especially the dance. Don’t think I didn’t notice.”

“Notice what?”

“Your blush and heart eyes.”

Theo gaped at her. He didn’t remember having blushed. And heart eyes? He surely hadn’t got those. He couldn’t have.

Brett laughed at Theo’s face, almost choking on the candy he was eating.

“Don’t feel embarrassed, Theodore! You like him, we understand.”

“I don’t like him,” Theo scowled.

“Of course not,” Tracy grinned.

Theo was going to answer but was interrupted by Anthony, a 5th year Slytherin, who stopped next to the couch and smiled at them.

“Am I interrupting?”

“We're just making fun of Theo don't worry, we'll come back to it later.”

Theo scoffed. He was sure his friends wouldn't let the subject go, they would keep on teasing him for one week, at least. Probably more.

“I just wanted to tell Theo that the Headmistress wants to meet up with him tomorrow.”

“What time?”

“After lunch in her office.”

“Do you know why?”

“I think it’s because of the Quidditch game.”

“The Quidditch game? But I don’t even play.”

“I don’t know more, sorry.”

“No worries, I’ll see what she wants tomorrow. Thanks, Anthony.”

“No problem,” the boy smiled and went back to his friends.

“Didn’t even remember that the first Quidditch game is next week,” Tracy said.

“Why do you think she wanted to talk to me?” Theo asked, all the possibilities running through his mind.

“She probably wants you to comment the games again.”

“She hated it when I commented last year.”

Patricia Lewis was a 7th year Slytherin the prior year and she was usually the one who commented the Quidditch games. However, in the middle of the school year she had gotten sick and couldn’t comment on the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff game and they had needed someone to step in and comment. Brett had jokingly said that Theo would do it, but the professors hadn’t taken it as a joke and so he had ended up as the commentator for that game. Needless to say that the majority of the professors hadn’t found it funny when Theo had criticized everything the Quidditch players did, even without knowing anything about the game.

“Maybe they’re desperate,” Brett shrugged. “I mean, that’s the only reason why they would invite you to comment again.”

“Fuck off,” Theo slapped the back of his head.

“Maybe your charm convinced them,” Tracy said, “We’ll only know tomorrow.”

“At least you’re flattering, unlike some asshole,” he glared at Brett who just chucked.

_______________

“Come in, Mr. Raeken.”

Theo stepped inside the Headmistress’ office and sat on the chair in front of her desk. She looked like she had been waiting for him, a disapproving frown on her face, the previous headmasters that were on their portraits behind her looking him down, all except Dumbledore who seemed amused, he noticed that Professor Snape wasn’t in his portrait, it seemed like almost no Hogwarts Headmaster approved of lateness.

“I’m sorry, Headmistress, there was a little problem on the Slytherin table with Brett and I stayed with him for a bit.”

“I am well aware of what happened with Mr. Talbot’s at lunch,” the disapproving frown was even more prominent on her face.

Almost as soon as Brett had started eating, his fork had jumped out of his hand and started flying around his head, Brett had almost grabbed it when it fell to the table with a loud noise. He glared around the Slytherin table and at anyone who was looking at him, a grimace on his face. They had thought that had been it, that nothing more would happen the rest of lunch, but they had been wrong. When Brett had gone to grab his goblet to take a sip from it, the thing had started flying right in front of his face, carefully since it didn’t spill but fast enough that Brett hadn’t been able to catch it before it was too late. It had flown until it stopped just above Brett’s head and the water inside it had spilled on top of his head before anyone had had time to react. Brett had been shocked, but his expression changed to one of anger right after; Theo had tried to stop himself from laughing, but he hadn’t been able to contain himself and neither had the other Slytherins. Tracy had had the decency to throw a drying charm in Brett’s direction, but she, too, had chuckled at their friend.

“Needn’t I remind you that if I find out who pulled that prank on Mr. Talbot, that person will be punished accordingly,” she peered at him from the top of her glasses like she was aware that he knew who had pranked Brett. “Do you have any idea who could have done it, Mr. Raeken?”

He knew who had been, but he wouldn’t tell her. He had seen Corey grinning smugly from the Hufflepuff table, Nolan chuckling softly into his hand, Mason, Liam and Hayden not even bothering to hide their laughter. He knew it had been Corey and Brett knew it, too, but none of them would tell the Headmistress, they were Slytherins and they could deal with a little prank all on their own. Brett had been mad when it had happened, but by the time Theo had left him with Tracy and Josh, he was already laughing and planning what he could do to make Corey pay for the prank he had pulled.

“I don’t know who it was,” Theo shook his head.

“Well, then,” Theo thought he saw a little smile on the Headmistress' face, but it was gone so fast he couldn’t even be sure. “I asked you to come here because I need to ask you something.”

“What is it?” Theo sat straighter in his chair.

“Would you want to comment next week’s Quidditch game?”

“Headmistress, with all due respect, I don’t know anything about Quidditch, you saw it when I commented last year.”

“I did, indeed, Mr. Raeken, and it wasn’t my idea to have you comment the game,” the look on her face told Theo that having him commenting a game of Quidditch again was the last thing she wanted him to do.

“Then why do you want me to do it?”

“Some of the Quidditch players from both Hufflepuff and Gryffindor teams have come to me to ask me for a favor, they said that your criticism prompts them to play better and they requested that I ask you to do it again this year.”

“But, it doesn’t make any sense.”

“Doesn’t it, Mr. Raeken? If you had someone who doesn’t understand potions come to you and criticize everything you did what would you do?”

“I would ignore them, but do everything I could to be even better than I am and make them eat their words,” he answered truthfully, already seeing where she was going.

“Then, I think you understand perfectly well why they want you to comment the games.”

“Yes, I do understand, Headmistress, I’ll comment the game.”

Professor McGonagall nodded, a little smile replacing the frown that had been on her face. They discussed the little details about the game and what Theo would have to do before he could leave her office.

“Mr. Raeken,” she called one last time once he was at the door. “Do refrain from making inappropriate comments.”

“I’ll try, Headmistress,” he joked when he saw the amusement in her eyes, no doubt remembering how he had made a certain comment about one of Hufflepuff’s ex-beater.

_________________________

Theo had had some more appointments with the Headmistress during the week, she had wanted to make sure that he didn’t say anything inappropriate, not that the appointments would stop him if he had something to say. He also had had to watch the Slytherin team training so that he could learn something about Quidditch and be able to make more accurate comments on the game.

Now, it was Sunday and Theo was sitting at the Slytherin table, listening to Brett and Josh going over their strategy for the game while he pretended to understand what they were saying.

The conversation between the Slytherins was interrupted when two Gryffindors approached the table, Phoenix, a 6th year that played on the Quidditch team, and Taylor, his friend.

“Talbot, Diaz, good luck for the game, you'll need it,” Phoenix said.

“You think we are the ones who need luck? Think again,” Josh smirked.

“We'll see about that,” Taylor shrugged.

“Yes, we will,” Brett raised an eyebrow at them in challenge.

The Gryffindors glared at them, clearly not liking to see that the Slytherins were confident in their victory; it surprised Theo how they seemed to think that Josh and Brett’s attitude was something completely abnormal, since it was the way the two of them had always acted, confident and challenging, never backing down.

“What’s happening here?” Liam’s voice sounded behind Theo.

“We were just wishing them good luck for the game,” Phoenix explained.

“For some reason, I can’t really believe that that was all you were doing,” Liam said. “I think you should go eat something, I want you ready for the game on time.”

“Of course, captain,” Taylor nodded, dragging Phoenix, who was still glaring, to the Gryffindor table.

Theo knew that Liam was the captain of the Gryffindor team that year. At first, he had doubted that the boy had it in him to be a good captain, but just this little display showed him that he had underestimated Liam. The Gryffindor could be in control, he could make people listen to him and he could be a good captain, Theo saw that now.

“Sit down, Liam, or are you just gonna stand there?” Tracy raised an eyebrow.

Liam looked over at the Gryffindor table before nodding at Tracy and sitting down on the vacant place next to Theo. Over at his house’s table, Liam’s friends were looking at him, some, looking like they had eaten a particularly bad lemon, some with little appreciative smiles like they liked the house unity representation and some didn’t even acknowledge it at all, acting as if it was completely normal for Liam Dunbar, a Gryffindor, to seat at the Slytherin table.

“You can go to your table if you want to, Liam, I only suggested that you seat here so that you wouldn’t just stand there,” Tracy said when she noticed that he was looking at the other table.

“No, I don’t mind sitting here.”

“Have you eaten already?” Josh asked.

“Yeah, I had just finished when I noticed that Taylor and Phoenix were here,” he paused. “I’m sorry, by the way, they can be a little competitive.”

“Don’t worry, they didn’t hurt our feelings.”

“And it’s not like we aren’t used to this kind of treatment, they might be competitive, but that wasn’t all that was about,” Brett shrugged. “We know that they don’t like us because we are Slytherins, winning against us tastes a little bit sweeter than winning against the other houses.”  
Liam was going to open his mouth to answer, maybe try to deny what all of them knew to be true, but Theo wasn’t about to let him to it, it would just be a waste of them because, at the end of the day, Liam knew as much as them that being a Slytherin came with the price of prejudice from the other houses.

“Don’t bother, Liam, you know he’s right. You once thought like Taylor and Phoenix, too.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think like that anymore,” he turned to look at Theo before looking at the others too. “You are much more than everyone thinks, you are amazing people and I’m really glad we decided to put everything behind our backs and get to know each other better. I like spending time with you, I won’t stop because some prejudiced idiots from my house can’t see past the colour you wear.”

The Slytherins stayed quiet for a little bit, it was weird to see someone say such things about them, someone who was looking at them honestly like he meant every word, someone who didn’t look wary of them at all. It was impossible to think that Liam was lying, his emotions were always clear on his face and this time wasn’t an exception.

“Thanks, Liam,” Tracy smiled at him. “It’s really good to hear someone say that.”

“You don’t need to thank me for saying the truth.”

Brett and Josh went back to their conversation after that, Tracy smiled at them before getting up and leaving to go finish her homework before the game and Theo decided that he should talk to Liam and explain to him why what he had said meant so much to them.

“Liam, do you wanna take a walk?”

Liam looked at him in wonder, probably trying to understand why exactly Theo would want to spend time with him, but he shrugged then, getting up and waiting for Theo to do the same and they left the Great Hall together.

“Is there something you want to talk to me about?” Liam asked while they were walking down the corridor towards the big door that would lead them to the outside.

“Can’t I just want to spend some time with you?” Theo teased; although he did want to talk to him, he also wouldn’t pass the opportunity to see Liam trying to come up with an answer.

“Well, I mean, of course, you can, but, you know it’s not usual for you to want to spend time with me, I just thought that there might be a reason,” he stuttered, not disappointing Theo.

Theo chuckled.

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head, Little Lion, I was just teasing you.”

“Oh,” Liam blushed, maybe because he didn’t understand that Theo was teasing him or maybe because of the nickname.

A nickname that had slipped past Theo’s lips without his consent, without him even thinking about it. It was inside his head one moment and the next one it was out of his mind, not even giving him time to process it.

“Actually,” Theo started once they were outside the castle, changing the subject and trying not to think about what he had called Liam just moments ago. “There was something I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Knew it,” Liam laughed. “What is it.”

“Firstly, I wanted to thank you for what you said back there, it meant a lot.”

“I already said that you don’t have to thank me, I just spoke the truth.”

Theo shook his head and stopped walking.

“I also want to explain why it meant so much to us,” he said when Liam stopped next to him.  
Liam gave him an encouraging nod and the both of them sat on the grass, looking at the castle, Theo trying to find where to start what he wanted to say and Liam waiting for him to be ready to talk.

“It all started on the first day at Hogwarts,” Theo started. “Do you remember what you felt like when the hat said you were a Gryffindor?”

“I remember feeling really proud and happy, there were people clapping and smiling at me, I felt like I belonged.”

“That is how every first year should feel when they are placed in their houses, but I didn’t feel like that and I doubt any other Slytherin does.

When I was placed in Slytherin I felt proud, don’t get me wrong, I knew I was in the house that would help me be better and great. But then came the looks. You don’t know what it feels like because no one ever looked at you in that way, but from the moment I was placed in Slytherin, students from the other houses started looking at me warily, they always looked away and never talked much to us, it was bad. I hated the first weeks here because of that.

The older Slytherins knew what it was like because they had gone through the same, so they were our biggest support and help. They taught us how to ignore the looks, how to make people believe that we don’t care, how to put on a façade. They were always there for us and that is probably why the house is so united in its own way, we help our own because we are the only ones that are always there.

What you said meant a lot, Liam. No one has ever looked at us with such openness and honesty and told us that they enjoyed our company, no one from the other houses had ever bothered to get to know us better. But you and your friends? You’re doing it willingly and that means everything to us.

We might not say it to your faces, that’s just not who we are, but we really appreciate you and everything you’re doing for us and for house unity.

I thought you should know it.”

Liam was looking at him like he had never seen him before by the time Theo had finished. It was overwhelming for Theo to talk about what he felt so openly, to show so many emotions and to let someone see what was going on inside him, but Liam made it hard not to open up. He had been so kind and honest, Theo had felt like he needed to do the same, he felt like he needed to let Liam know everything.

“I had never thought about things from the Slytherin perspective,” Liam interrupted the silence. “And you were right, I did think like that for all these years, but I am glad that I’m getting the chance to change my opinion.”

They stayed in silence for a little while, Liam was trying to make him see that he understood what he had been through, at least to some extent, and that he appreciated Theo telling him what he was thinking; he didn’t need to be worried about Theo not seeing it, Theo knew that Liam was thankful for the truthfulness, and that was all the reassurance he needed to know that telling Liam had been a good decision.

“I do understand what you're feeling, though,” Liam said suddenly. “Maybe not for the same reason, but I do understand.”

“Why?”

“I have IED, everyone looks at me like I am about to explode, just like they look at you like you're gonna stab their backs. I understand what it's like to be looked at for something that is a part of you. And it's not good. I wish I had made the connection between the two situations sooner, maybe I would have been nicer, then.”

“It doesn't matter that you didn't, you're doing it now, and it is an amazing thing. And for what's worth, I don't think that having IED makes you any less of a person, I don't think it makes you someone everyone should walk on eggshells around.”

Liam smiled at him then, a bright, happy smile that made Theo all too aware of how beautiful Liam looked with it on his face, a smile that Theo wanted to see more often. Liam moved his hand, grabbing Theo with his and squeezed it softly.

“I think I get why it was so important for you to hear me say what I did, it was really important to me that you said that.”

Theo smiled back at him, amazed by how easy it was with Liam. The noise of people leaving the castle towards the Quidditch pitch interrupting their moment and alerting them to the hour.

“We should get going, the game will start soon,” Liam said.

The both of them got up and smiled at each other as a goodbye, Liam going to the castle to be with his team and Theo going to the pitch where he would help Madame Hooch prepare everything.

“Dunbar,” he called making Liam turn to look at him again. “Good luck on the game.”

______________

“Isaac Hawkins of Gryffindor takes the Quaffle immediately after it is in the air,” Theo starts, he still wonders why he agreed to comment the game. “I can’t believe you didn’t catch it, Caleb, it was right in front of your face.”

From the corner of his eye, Theo saw the Headmistress scowl at his biased comment and he smiled cheekily at her, after all, this kind of comments were apparently one of the reasons they wanted him as a commentator.

The game kept going back and forth like that for a while, Gryffindor was the first to score, but Slytherin retaliated immediately and the game stayed 10-10 for a while.

“What are you doing, Josh? You’re a beater for a reason, you're supposed to stop the Bludger from hitting your teammates, not let it pass by you,” Theo scoffed.

The ball had flown by Josh and had almost hit Daisy Clarke, one of the Slytherin chasers, causing her to lose the Quaffle to Amy Dean, one of the Gryffindor chasers.

“Good job, Sophie,” Theo said when the girl stopped the ball from going through one of the loops. “It seems like you’re the only one who knows how to play this game.”

“That’s it, Phoenix, hit your own team’s other beater with the bludger, good work,” Theo said cheerfully.

The points kept going like that, the two teams were almost always tied. If Slytherin scored, Gryffindor did it right after. The biggest difference in the score had happened when Daisy Clarke, Slytherin chaser, had been hit on the arm by a bludger and had to leave the game for a few minutes. Thankfully, she had been able to go back to the game quickly and they had been able to tie the game again.

“It seems like the seekers have spotted the snitch,” Theo said into the mic, looking at where Brett and Liam were chasing each other.

The game was tied then, and it seemed like it would stay like that, the result completely in the hands of the seekers, whoever team caught the snitch would win.

“Come on, Brett, is that what you call being fast?”

Theo thought he heard Brett scream a “fuck off” when he passed by where he was commenting.

“Good try, Lexi,” he told Gryffindor's keeper when the Quaffle went through the loop. “You should ask Sophie for some lessons.”

The voices around the pitch grew louder, the crowd going wild and more enthusiastic when both Brett and Liam dived in, looking like they caught sight of the snitch again. They were chasing each other frantically, the snitch seemed to be teasing them, going up and then down, not giving them a chance to catch it.

It was a hypnotic dance and Theo couldn’t take his eyes off of them, he had even forgotten that there were more player and more things going on in the pitch, not commenting on anything except the two seekers. His inability to avert his eyes from the two of them, while not really thinking about the words coming out of his mouth, was the reason why he said what he said.

“You have a really nice ass, Dunbar, but you can’t just bend over your broom like that.”

Theo noticed what he said when he saw Liam’s broom stop suddenly, going over his words in his head and feeling his cheeks colour slightly when he processed it. He had just said that in front of the whole crowd, it was kind of embarrassing, but Theo wouldn’t take it back. Especially because Liam’s distraction after his commented had been everything Brett had needed to leave him behind and close his hand around the little golden ball.

And when the crowd went wild, Theo realized three things.

Slytherin had won the game, maybe thanks to his comment;

The Headmistress was glaring at him and he would surely be in trouble for it;

And that he couldn’t deny the attraction he felt for Liam anymore, he couldn’t and he wouldn’t.

__________________

The Headmistress had scolded Theo as soon as the commotion in the pitch had moved away from it. She had been mad about his biased comments, but the comment about Liam had been the final straw of her patience. She seemed more angered about this comment than about the one he had made the year before about the Hufflepuff player, but Theo suspected it was because his comment had distracted Liam enough to give Slytherin the victory. Although Headmistress, she was still Gryffindor after all.

As a punishment, she had given him a week of detention and made him go put the things they had used for the game back inside the broom closet, a clear instruction not to use any magic.

He was straightening some brooms, mumbling complains to himself when he heard someone enter. He turned around to look at the door, Liam was standing there, in his usual uniform, having already showered, broom on his hand and blush on his face.

“I just came to return the broom, I broke mine this summer and I had to borrow one of the school ones.”

Theo nodded and moved until he was in front of Liam. He took the broom out of his hand and leaned it against the wall, before looking back at the boy.

“You can leave it, I have to clear up things here, anyway.”

“Why do you have to do it?”

“Let's just say that the Headmistress didn't like my comments very much,” he took in the way Liam blushed and added, “not that I lied with any of them.”

Liam looked down, seemingly finding their shoes interesting. It was endearing to say the least, seeing Liam as red as his tie, stuttering words and not looking at Theo’s eyes, it was cute and Theo couldn't help but smile. He couldn't take his eyes off of the beautiful boy in front of him.

Theo moved his hand to Liam's cheek, making him look up at him and smiled slightly at the pretty blue eyes that met his. He leaned down, noses touching and eyes closing. Theo couldn't believe that it was happening, but it was everything he had been wanting since their dance.

“Liam, are you in here?” Mason's voice from outside the broom closet made them jump apart.

Liam stuttered something that Theo hadn't been able to hear and left the closet as fast as he could. Theo sighed when Liam disappeared, sad about the opportunity they had missed, but determined to make it happen again and this time finish what they had started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I made it a goal to finish this chapter in 2017 and I did it, it's 10:45p.m here in Portugal.
> 
> What did you think?
> 
> I wanted Theo to have a nickname for Liam, but I couldn't fit Little Wolf in the story, so I decided that Litte Lion was a nice option.
> 
> Thanks for all the love, and I hope you have an amazing 2018!


	5. Blow Your Mind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In honor of the Thiam Movie AU Fest, Fantasy day, here is a new chapter.
> 
> (I'm sorry in advance)

If you don’t like the way I talk, then why am I on your mind?  
If you don’t like the way I rock, then finish your glass of wine  
We fight and we argue, you'll still love me blind  
If we don’t fuck this whole thing up  
Guaranteed, I can blow your mind  
Mwah!  
...  
Tell me I’m too crazy  
You can’t tame me, can't tame me  
Tell me I have changed  
But I’m the same me, old same me  
Inside  
Hey!  
Mwah!

\- Blow Your Mind by Dua Lipa

________________

Liam was sitting in the Gryffindor common room surrounded by the Quidditch team. 

It was Monday, the day after the game and it was as the time to talk about what had happened on the pitch. They didn't talk right after the game because they had all been tired and mad and had needed time to calm down.   
The expressions on his teammates’ faces varied. Some were looking disappointed, both at the game and at Liam, others looked mad and the number of glares pointed at Liam’s face made him want to get up and go hide somewhere. 

But he was a Gryffindor and he would stay there and hear everything the team wanted to say. 

“I can't believe we lost,” Louise moaned. 

“We have tied almost the whole game, we had as much chance to win as Slytherin did,” Amy said, trying to calm de discussion that would surely break out soon. 

“We did have as much chance as they did, but they seized the opportunity and we didn't,” Taylor twirled his wand in his hand. 

“It wasn't us who didn't seize the opportunity,” Phoenix scoffed. “It was Liam.”

The team’s glares intensified. It was like the people who were holding their glares back let them show after Phoenix put into words what they were thinking. 

“I-”

“How could you let yourself get distracted right when you were going to catch the snitch?”

He would like to be able to explain. He would like to have an excuse for what happened, a plausible excuse, but he didn’t. He only had the truth. Theo’s comment had distracted him, had made him lose focus on the game and had taken his mind somewhere else entirely. It had distracted him so much that he had stopped his broom in the air, the golden snitch a few inches away, handing the victory to Slytherin in a silver plate.

“I’m sorry, guys,” he sighed.

“You’re supposed to be our captain,” Phoenix spat. “You're supposed to be focused.”

Liam knew that. He wasn't supposed to make mistakes, especially mistakes as stupid as this one. Mistakes that cost them the game. He should have been able to control himself, he shouldn't have let Theo’s comment get to him like that. 

“Liam,” Lexi said. “Don't beat yourself over it, it can happen to anyone.”

“But it happened to me,” Liam said, he wouldn't even pretend that it wasn't his fault. “And we lost the game because of it.”

“To be completely honest here,” Louise interrupted. “It was also Theo’s fault.”

And then it hit Liam. 

If Theo hadn't made that comment none if this would have happened. He wouldn't have gotten distracted and he wouldn't have made the team lose the game. He wouldn't be a disappointment to his team, his house and himself. 

“It was all probably part of his little Slytherin plan to make us lose, he wanted to distract Liam and he managed to do it,” Taylor glared. 

It was a plausible reason. Theo was a Slytherin, he obviously wanted his team to win and he had made what he needed in order to have them winning. 

“You have a really nice ass, Dunbar, but you can’t just bend over your broom like that.”

What other reason would there be for that comment anyway? It was the only logical explanation. 

Theo had wanted to win and he had made a comment to distract Liam. He should have seen it as soon as it had happened, he shouldn't have let himself be fooled by a possible attraction and a comment made by a hot guy. 

It was his fault, but it was also Theo’s fault. 

_____________

When Liam left the Gryffindor common room he was feeling a mix of too many confusing emotions inside him.  
He felt embarrassed. Theo had made that comment in front of the whole school and everyone had seen how it had affected Liam;

He felt disappointed. His distraction when he heard Theo had cost Gryffindor the game and that wasn’t ok, it was his fault and the disappointment in himself was a big part of his emotions;

But, above all, he felt anger. All the emotions he was feeling made him angry. Angry at the team for laying everything on his back, angry at himself for the implications of his mid-air stop, and angry at Theo. So angry at Theo because he had been the one who had started all this with his stupid, unnecessary comment.

“Liam,” he heard.

He had been walking along the long corridors without any directions in mind, just wanting some time alone with his thoughts and emotions, some time to try and sort everything out before he talked to someone and said or did something stupid. Being interrupted by Theo, of all people, not being part of his plan.

He didn’t stop walking, Theo’s voice making his anger swell inside him. He was mad at Theo and having the other boy in front of him, looking as if nothing wrong had happened, made everything even worse.

“Liam, wait,” Theo called when he saw that Liam wouldn’t stop, walking faster to catch up with him.

“What do you want?” He asked, finally stopping since Theo didn’t look like he would leave him alone.

Theo frowned.

“Are you ok?”

“Yes, Theo, of course, I am.”

“Liam?”

“What?”

“Did I do something?” He looked genuinely confused like he couldn’t think of something that could explain what was happening and why Liam was acting like this.

“No, Theo, you didn’t.”

Liam made a move to walk alone, but Theo grabbed his arm, stopping him from doing so.

“You’re not going to walk away like this,” Theo told him seriously.

Liam glared at him, still struggling against Theo’s grip on his arm.

“What do you want, Theo?” Liam snapped, he had no patience for Theo’s bullshit.

“I want you to tell me what the fuck is going on!” Theo screams, clearly feed u with Liam’s attitude that, for him, didn’t have any explanation.

“Your fucking comment is what’s going on!”

Theo fell silent, blinking at Liam with a confused frown.

“My comment?”

“During Quidditch.”

“Oh,” Theo mumbled. “That comment.”

“Yeah, that comment,” Liam rolled his eyes.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“The comment didn’t offend me,” Liam scoffed. “The reason why you made the comment offended me.”

“Was there a reason for my comment?” The looked at him cluelessly.

“You don’t need to pretend anymore. I already know.”

“Enlighten me, then.”

“You wanted us to lose,” he said. “When I was close to catching the snitch you said what you said so that I would get distracted and Brett could catch it instead.”

“And why would I have done that?”

“So that your house would win,” Liam spat. “You’re a Slytherin after all.”

Theo just stood there looking at him, mouth hanging open and eyes wide, surprise clear on his face.

“Where did that idea come from?”

“Theo, it’s obvious. You can lift the act,” Liam glared.

When Theo just stood there gaping at him, Liam rolled his eyes and started walking away, quickly enough so that Theo couldn’t stop him this time.

“Liam!” Theo called once more, but he was ignored.

_______________________

Liam was fuming. 

He couldn't believe that Theo had just stood there looking at him, instead of defending himself further. He had defended himself in the beginning, yes, denying what Liam was saying, but then he had given up and Liam didn't like that. 

He didn't want silent Theo, he wanted screaming Theo full of anger after faced with Liam’s accusations. He wanted a proper reaction. And he didn't really know what those preferences said about him. 

His angry stomping was stopped by Corey and Hayden who turned a corner ahead of him and stopped in front of him. One look at their friend’s face had been enough to tell them that something was wrong with him, that something had happened. 

“Liam, what happened?” Hayden asked him. 

“It was Theo,” he sighed, maybe his friends could help him understand all his weird emotions. 

“What did he do?”

“I'm not sure it was him… I think it might have been me.”

The both of them looked at him weirdly, clearly not understanding what was going on in Liam’s head or what had happened between him and Theo. 

“Where's Mason?”

“Library,” Corey answered. “He was studying for something. 

“Do you think he would mind if we interrupted him?”

Corey shrugged. 

“He has been complaining about this assignment for a while now and it has been a few hours since he went there,” Corey shrugged. “Knowing him, he probably already finished the assignment and is just reading it over for the millionth time to make sure that there aren't any tiny mistakes.”

“He does tend to do that a lot,” Hayden agreed. “And you definitely look like you need to talk to someone, so you should go get him.”

“I would talk to just the two of you,” he explained when they started walking towards the library, talking took his mind away from The I for the time being. “But we all know Mason   
would kill us if he wasn't present to hear everything too.”

Corey and Hayden chuckled, knowing that that was exactly what Mason would feel like doing if they had the important conversation they knew they were about to have without him. 

They walked in silence to the library. Liam kind of wanted them to talk, say something, anything, and take his mind out of the Theo problem, but it seemed like his friends thought he would appreciate the silence. To be fair, he usually did appreciate it when he wasn't in a good mood, but this time he didn't want it at all. 

The library was as silent as always when they got there. From the door, they could see Mason sitting at one of the tables, books and parchments around him and a concentrated but tired look on his face. Corey entered the library to get him while Hayden and Liam waited outside for them, not wanting to make any noise that would make the librarian scold them. 

“I was in the middle of something,” they heard Mason say after a while, their two other friends appearing right after the voice. 

“In the middle of what? Checking what you did for the tenth time?” Hayden asked. 

Mason scoffed. 

“What was so important that you had to go and get me from the library?”

“Come on, Mase, we all know that you didn't want to be in there looking at those parchments any longer,” Liam teased. 

Mason looked like he was ready to open his mouth and protest, but Corey’s hand on his arm made him stop. 

“Liam needs to talk.”

Liam’s best friend blinked and looked at him in wonder, face softening as soon as he met his eyes. 

“We should go to one of the common rooms,” he suggested. 

“Not the Gryffindor,” Liam said hurriedly. “I don't wanna see the team.”

His friends seemed even more worried after that but thankfully didn't press to explain before they were somewhere else. 

“I would suggest the Hufflepuff common room,” Corey said. “But Josh is studying in there with Nolan and I don't think you wanna talk in front of him.”

“I thought we were in good terms with the Slytherins,” Mason interrupted, not knowing that the conversation would float around a certain Slytherin. 

“We are,” Corey shrugged. “But we can't talk about Theo in front of one of his Slytherin friends, they are too loyal to each other and there is no way Josh wouldn't tell him what we said.”

“Did you just say a good thing about Slytherins?” 

“I guess I did.”

“Wait, so this talk is about Theo?” Mason wiggled his eyebrows, making Liam roll his eyes and the other two laugh. 

“We can go to the Ravenclaw common room,” Mason said after they had stopped laughing at Liam’s reaction. 

They climbed the stairs all the way to the Ravenclaw tower without much of a conversation, they passed by the place where everything had gone down for Theo and Liam and he felt sadness curse all over him at the thought of the possible loss of everything he and Theo had.

“What is the question you can never answer truthfully with ‘yes’?” The bronze, eagle-shaped door knocker asked when Mason knocked on the door.

“I almost had forgotten that you have to answer a riddle to get inside your common room,” Corey laughed.

“It’s so impractical,” Hayden agreed.

Mason rolled his eyes.

“When you’re asleep,” he answered and the door opened.

Being in the Ravenclaw common room was something completely out of the normal for Liam, even though he had been there before. The bookcases that towered from floor to ceiling and were full of books, still surprised him and the view was as beautiful as the view from the Gryffindor common room but still different.

He was glad to see that the common room was empty apart from two girls with books in front of them at the table on the corner.  
Liam and Mason sat on the couch, Corey sitting on a chair and Hayden on the floor in front of them. 

“So, Liam are you going to tell us what is going on with you and the other loverboy?”

Liam sighed.

“I’m not sure if I fucked up or if I did the right thing.”

“Oh no,” Hayden shook her head. “It’s definitely not a good thing.”

“What happened?” Corey asked.

“You all heard the comment he made right?” 

The other three’s reactions varied from smirks to snickers, showing that they knew exactly what comment Liam was talking about.

“It’s not funny,” Liam snapped. “It made us lose the game.”

His friends sighed, they knew Liam and they were sure that there probably was something cooking up in Liam’s head that made him see things in a different way that made him faulty of the game loss.

“He probably did it on purpose,” Liam explained. “He wanted Slytherin to win, so he distracted me. I was just about to catch the snitch, but because of Theo’s comment, Brett caught it instead.”

“Don’t you think that maybe you’re looking into it a little too much?”

“Why would Theo do that?”

“And how would he know that his comment would distract you?”

“He did it because he wanted his house to win, I told you, and he just knew that he would distract me,” Liam moved his hands around while talking. “What other reason would there be for his comment?”

“Did it occur to you,” Mason said with a little hint of sarcasm in his tone. “That maybe, just maybe, Theo just said what was going through his mind? That maybe, just maybe, he likes your ass.”

“But-”

“No buts, Liam, I’m pretty sure you jumped to conclusions and didn’t even let Theo explain himself, that’s why you’re here sulking.”

If there was one person who knew Liam really well and wouldn’t have a problem with calling him on his bullshit, it was definitely Mason.

“I kind of accused him of acting like the stereotypical Slytherin and plotting to make his team win…”

He heard his friends groan and sighed, he probably had acted on impulse and done the wrong thing.

“Sometimes, I really want to grab you by the shoulders and shake you to make you open your eyes and stop being an idiot,” Corey rolled his eyes.

“I really should have thought about it before talking to Theo and accusing him of things… And maybe letting him explain would have been a good idea.”

“You don’t say,” Hayden looked at him like he was stupid.

“What should I do now?”

“Depends,” Mason said, a smirk appearing on his face. “Do you like him?”

Liam groaned when he saw the way Mason was wiggling his eyebrows while Corey made mocking kissing noises and Hayden laughed a little too loud.

“I hate you guys.”

_____________

Theo’s body was in the Slytherin common room, sitting on the couch with his eyes on the fireplace, but his mind was somewhere else. 

He knew as soon as the words had left his mouth at the end if the Quidditch game that he shouldn't have said them, but then he and Liam had met in the broom closet and they had had a moment and Theo had thought that the comment had ended up being a good thing and that everything was ok… But then Liam had said what he had said and things didn't look well for Theo. 

“So that your house could win.”

Liam had accused him of making that comment just so that his house had a better chance of winning. It upset Theo to know that Liam thought that was something he could do; he had thought that Liam had finally started seeing who he really is, especially after the conversation they had had. 

“You're a Slytherin after all.”

What did Liam mean with that anyway? Did Liam still think that Slytherins were like that? That Theo was like that? 

“Theo?”

Tracy and Brett were standing in front of him, concerned frowns on their faces. 

“Are you ok?” Tracy asked, seating next to him. 

“I don’t know,” he said.

“What happened?” Brett sat on the other side of him.

“Liam happened.”

“What did that idiotic Gryffindor do this time?” Tracy sighed.

“He accused me of commenting on his ass just to distract him enough so that we could win the game.”

His friends stayed silent for a few seconds, just looking at each other, before bursting into laughter.

“That’s just stupid.”

“Yeah, apparently not stupid for him.”

“Wait, he actually did that?”

“Yes, I'm not making it up, obviously,” Theo rolled his eyes. 

“That kid is going to pay for that, he can't just make things up in his mind and treat you like they're automatically true.”

“It kinda makes sense that he would think that.”

“He should know you better by now.”

“You don't have to try and excuse him, Theo, what he did isn't right. Liam jumped to conclusions and that is not a good thing to do.”

“I shouldn't have made the comment, anyway.”

“You shouldn't have,” Tracy nodded. “That wasn't the place to do it. But that still doesn't give Liam the right to make assumptions and not even let you explain yourself.”

Theo was going to open his mouth but stopped as soon as he saw the glare on Tracy’s face. 

“End of the discussion.”

And with that she got up and left the common room, leaving the two confused boys behind. 

“Boy, I'm scared of what she will do.”

____________

After leaving the Slytherin common room, still mad at Liam for putting the sad expression on Theo’s face, Tracy climbed up the stairs with confident steps. 

She was a girl on a mission and she wouldn't give up until it was accomplished. 

She found the person she was looking for on the fourth floor. 

“Good thing I find you,” Tracy said. “We have to do something about the Theo and Liam situation.”

“I was going to look for you,” Hayden laughed. “I also think we have to do something, give them the push they need.”

“Men,” Tracy sighed while linking her arm with Hayden’s and starting walking. “Can't do anything on their own.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this happened.
> 
> I'm not too sure about how to feel about the way this turned out... The dialogues and all that seemed a little off for me, don't know if it was only in my mind or not... Sorry if this is as bad as it seems in my head.
> 
> And sorry for the angst...


	6. Talk Me Down

So if you don't mind, I'll walk that line  
Stuck on the bridge between us  
Gray areas and expectations  
But I'm not the one if we're honest, yeah  
But I wanna sleep next to you  
And I wanna come home to you  
I wanna hold hands with you  
I wanna be close to you

\- Talk Me Down by Troye Sivan  
____________________

Theo and Liam were the most stubborn idiots Hayden and Tracy knew. They were firm on what they believed and it was hard to change their minds once they decided on something. 

Now, if the both of them were extremely stubborn when they were alone on their beliefs and decisions when they had decided on the same thing, even if for different reasons, it was extremely complicated to even make them hear someone else’s voice and opinion. 

Tracy and Hayden may have underestimated their stubbornness a little bit.

They had set their plan into motion on Tuesday.

It started with subtle tries to have them talk by themselves, not wanting to be too overwhelming or obvious; if Theo and Liam found out what they were planning, it would just make them more stubborn and there would be even less hope in opening up their eyes.

During that day they had dragged Theo and Liam to the places where they were and made up excuses - believable excuses that Tracy had come up with and that had left Hayden quite impressed - to leave the two boys alone, but they hadn’t budged. No words had left their mouths in the times when it was just the two of them, they barely even talked when the group was together, it was like they had vowed not to let the other hear their voice again.

Tracy knew that Theo was getting suspicious on Wednesday, the things that had happened in the prior day repeated themselves and there was no way Theo hadn’t made the connection between the argument he had had with Liam and Tracy always taking him to where the other boy was just to leave them alone afterward. Theo wasn’t stupid.

On Thursday, Hayden and Tracy were growing frustrated, not knowing what more they could do to make them get over themselves and talk things out like normal people, to make them see that they won’t be completely happy unless they are on good terms with each other, at the very least.

So, they decided that being subtle wouldn’t be a thing they would worry too much about while plotting to get them to talk anymore. Subtleness was replaced by boldness. A Slytherin plan was replaced by a Gryffindor plan.

It had surprised Tracy how good of a plan it was, but maybe she thought that because the plan was a little similar to hers. Hayden would tell Liam to meet up with her in an empty classroom to study after lunch and before the afternoon classes, Tracy would do the same thing with Theo and then they wouldn’t show up.

It was a good plan, but even they doubted that it would work, especially Tracy who knew Theo better than anyone. And considering that her almost similar plans had failed.

Their doubts were proved to be correct when this plan didn’t work either. Tracy and Hayden were watching from afar to see how their plan would turn out. Liam was the first to get there, he entered the classroom and sat on one of the tables opening a book in front of him and Theo got there roughly five minutes after. That had been when the plan had stopped working.

As soon as Theo stepped into the classroom and saw Liam sitting there, alone, no sign of Tracy, he turned on his heels and left, not even giving Liam time to raise his head from the book in front of him. From the way he was cursing Tracy on his way, she knew that Theo was really aware of their plans now.

“It’s impossible,” Hayden had whispered during Transfiguration class that afternoon. “They are too stubborn.”

“We can try something at the party on Saturday,” Tracy whispered back. “They got quite close in the last party we had.”

“I thought it was a Slytherins only kind of party.”

“It’s a Slytherins and whoever they decide to take with them, kind of party,” Tracy winked.

They didn’t know exactly what they would do to make Theo and Liam talk, but something would come to them, it was a party, after all, there would be plenty of opportunities to get them to be near each other. And the both of them were determined to make them see that being at odds with each other wasn’t good at all, not for them and not for the little group they had unexpectedly formed.

______________________

Tracy was surprised to see Theo in the common room, sitting on one of the couches. It was Friday night, a little after 3 in the morning, and she hadn’t been able to sleep anymore after she woke up around 2, so she had gotten up from her bed and had left the dormitory to go to the common room and read a book without bothering any of her sleeping roommates. She hadn’t expected to find her friend in there, suffering from the same problem.

“Trouble sleeping?” She asked softly. 

“Yeah,” he sighed. 

Tracy moved to sit next to him, his legs were on top of the couch and she moved them in order to sit and placed them on her lap. There was a slight pause, Theo not looking like he would say anything and Tracy wondering if she should talk to him about the plans she knew that he was aware of and they hadn’t talked about yet.

“Theo,” she finally called, she wouldn’t pull a Theo and Liam and avoid the issue.

“What do you want?” He asked without raising his eyes from the book.

“I’m not going to say that I’m sorry,” she said bluntly, he knew what she was talking about for sure.

“Then what are you going to say?”

“I’m going to say the truth, make you hear it,” she told him. “You guys have to talk.”

“I’m not talking to him, Tracy, no way,” he glared at her as if the mere thought of initiating the conversation with Liam was the most stupid idea Tracy had ever had.

“Are you just going to wait for him to talk to you then?”

“I am,” Theo nodded. “He was the one who fucked things up, I’m not going to try and reach him when he won’t do it either. As if I was the one who did something wrong.”

“This is why you need to talk, Theo, communicate with him and let him know how you feel about everything. He needs to know how you feel and you need to know how he feels.”

“It doesn’t look like he cares, anyway,” Theo shrugged. “So why should I even try.”

Tracy sighed. This was Theo’s problem, he would never be the one to take the first step in a situation like this. He felt like being the first one to reach out would make him seem vulnerable and dependable, two words that Theo didn’t want to be used for the purpose of describing him.

“Ok, then don’t talk to Liam, talk to me,” Tracy took the book out of his hands.

Theo needed to get what he was feeling out of his chest and if he wouldn’t talk to Liam like he should, then she would be the person who would listen to him and let him vent like he needed to; she wouldn’t force him to talk to Liam anymore, she tried it and it didn’t work, she would still try to help them at the party, but she wouldn’t force anything. It was completely up to them now.

“What do you want me to say?” 

Theo looked up at her and Tracy saw how tired her friend looked, this misunderstanding between him and Liam really had affected him and it was probably the reason behind his sleepless night.

She reached out and put an arm around his shoulders, pulling him closer, letting him rest his head on her shoulder and rubbing his arm comfortingly.

“Just say whatever it’s on your mind. I’ll listen.”

And so Theo did, he told Tracy what he was feeling and thinking, what being away from Liam while having unfinished business between them felt like, he told her everything that had been suffocating him. And Tracy listened, she didn’t interrupt or give empty words and promises, Theo didn’t need that, she let him tell her everything that he was keeping trapped inside and she gave him the support he needed because that’s what friends are there for.

“It really hurt,” Theo had said. “Knowing that he could doubt me like that, I thought we were past that.”

His voice had been low and small while he talked and it had made Tracy’s heart ache to hear. This sad, broken boy wasn’t her best friend and she was starting to get really mad at Liam for making him feel like that.

“We talked before the game,” Theo continued. “I… It felt like we understood each other like I could tell him anything and he would get it.”

Tracy knew how hard it was for Theo to open up about his feelings, if he had talked to Liam about them it was because he trusted the guy, having him not talking must hurt him so much. Tracy just wanted to be able to take away his pain. 

“And then I had to go and make that comment and fuck everything up.”

Tracy didn't look at his face, she knew he wouldn't want anyone to actually see him so vulnerable, but she knew that his eyes were getting red and water was starting to form. 

“You didn't fuck everything up, Theo, you were just making a comment. Liam was the one who overreacted and misunderstood things. Don't beat yourself up over it,” she whispered softly, fingers playing with his hair. 

Tracy might not be too good with comforting words, they aren’t easy like magic, but Theo’s sadness couldn’t be stopped with a spell and she would do whatever it took to see him smiling again.

“I don't know why I'm so upset,” he mumbled. “It's not like we were even that close.”

“It’s normal to be upset, you trusted him and suddenly you’re not talking anymore, and for a stupid reason,” she grumbled the last part.

“Tracy,” he warned.

“Sorry, that’s not what you need to hear,” she apologized.

They stayed silent for a little bit longer, eyes on the fire in front of them.

“Things will get better, we both know they will,” she told him.

“But when, Tracy, when?”

“I don’t know, no one ever does, but everything will be worth it in the end and, meanwhile, I’ll be here and I won’t let go.”

She hugged him tighter, Theo’s heart was cracked in some places because of Liam and she would make sure that all the pieces stayed together, she wouldn’t allow Theo’s heart to break.

___________________

Tracy looked around the Slytherin common room proudly. Everyone seemed to be having fun, even though the party hadn’t even started yet, many Slytherins and their guests were yet to arrive, but the ones who were there were already talking, laughing and eating the Halloween snacks and candies that were in the tables. 

The decoration looked amazing; spider webs and charmed spiders moving around on the stone walls and ceiling, pumpkins on the floor and window seats, sweet-scented candles were scattered around the room giving it an even more mysterious look than usual, purples and oranges mixing with the greens, silvers and blacks of the common room in a nice, classy and even fancy way.

Tracy hadn’t done everything alone, the other Slytherin girls had taken it into their hands to help, but she was really proud of the result of their efforts.

“This looks amazing!”

Tracy smiled when she heard Hayden’s compliment, leaning back against her body when she wrapped her arms around her waist. She had been waiting for the not Slytherin part of the group to arrive and she was happy that they were finally there and that Hayden had come here.

“Of course, it does,” Tracy smirked. “Slytherins came up with it.”

“You’re so conceited,” Hayden chuckled. “But I’ll give you a break since you’re right.”

Hayden leaned into Tracy, kissing her cheek and looking around the room. The others were already there too, Brett had gone to get Corey and Nolan while Josh had gone to the towers to get Mason and the two Gryffindors, they couldn’t have come without Brett and Josh since they don’t have the password to the Slytherin common room. Now, Liam was still near the entrance with Nolan and Brett, looking uncomfortable and out of place; Mason and Corey were sitting on one of the couches; Josh was next to one of the snack table, and Theo was nowhere to be found.

“Where’s Theo?” She asked Tracy.

The other girl sighed, making her frown, worried about the boy.

“He’s still in his room, I don’t know if he will come out or stay there all night.”

“Liam didn’t want to come either,” she said. “I think they really don’t wanna see each other.”

“Those idiots are going to be the death of me,” Tracy groaned.

Tracy stepped forward, out of the embrace, and walked confidently to the entrance of the common room, Hayden following her, a smile on her face at the sight of the other girl’s determination.

The three boys looked at them when they got there, Nolan smiling at them while Brett raised an eyebrow and Lia averted his eyes to look around the room.

“I need you to go get Theo,” Tracy told Brett, not bothering with greetings and pretending not to notice the way Liam’s eyes turned to her at the name.

“He hasn’t left the room yet?” Brett frowned. “I swear…”

With a few grumbles about “stubborn bastards”, Brett turned around and left in the direction of the dormitories, on a mission to get Theo out of his misery and get him to the party, leaving Nolan looking at Tracy and Hayden awkwardly while Liam kept on avoiding everyone’s eyes. Tracy looked pointedly at Hayden and subtly nodded her head in Liam’s direction, glad to see that Hayden got the hint when the other girl grabbed Nolan’s arm and dragged him away, leaving her alone with Liam.

“I’m only going to say this once, Liam, so, listen to me carefully,” she said in a low voice as soon as it was just the two of them, enjoying the sight of Liam gulping. “You better get your head out of your ass and think about the implications of the accusations you did. You better fix all this mess, Liam, or we will have a problem.”

With a last look at his pale face and wide eyes, she turned her back and left him there, thinking about what she had said. She hoped it would be the last push they needed. 

_________________

When Theo left the dormitory, Brett’s eyes on his back to make sure that he wouldn’t turn back around, the only thing he wanted was to go back inside. He wasn't in the mood for a party, he just wanted to be left alone. 

“Just have fun, man,” Brett clapped him on the back. 

Brett left him in order to go talk to a Corey and Mason and Theo stood where they had been talking, not really knowing what to do. He didn’t remember ever feeling this outside of a party he was before, he needed to get his shit together and start acting like Theo Raeken, not this idiotic clone.

He looked around the common room, Tracy and the other Slytherin girls had done an amazing job decorating it, everything looked perfect for Halloween, creepy and mysterious but classic like a Slytherin party always is.

It was a Slytherin tradition. Every year, on Halloween night - or on the weekend after if Halloween fell on a weekday, - all of them would stay in the common room and have a get together until it was time for the younger students to go to bed and a party after that time came (even though they all knew that the kids most likely stayed up the rest of the night too, anyway).

Now, since Theo had stayed in the dormitory for some time, the younger Slytherins were starting to leave the common room, yawning and rubbing their eyes, mumbled good nights when they passed by the elders. Theo smiled slightly at them, they were adorable and Theo always felt the need to protect them and act like a big brother, he loved it when they went to him for advice and such. They really never failed to put him in a good mood. 

When he stepped into the common room, Tracy’s eyes found him immediately, an encouraging smile on her face. He should have known that she wouldn't let him stay away from the party. Tracy would never let him drown in self-pity.

He pretended like everything was ok and moved to one of the tables, grabbing a glass of Firewhiskey. He looked at the people around the room, purposely ignoring Liam and his friends, everyone was dressed nicely, like it was mandatory in a party in the Slytherin common room, no costumes or anything, just nice clothes that looked amazing in the general environment of the party. 

“I don't get it,” a voice said behind him. “Is it really a Halloween party if there are no costumes?”

"People with stupid costumes would fuck up the classy look," Theo explained looking pointedly at Liam.

Of course, Liam would choose this night, the night when he didn't want to be bothered, to try and talk to him. 

“Do you think I would bring a stupid costume?” Liam asked, looking a little bit offended. 

“Of course, you would,” Theo shrugged not worried at all about possibly offending the Gryffindor. “Probably a werewolf or something like that.”

“Werewolves are great,” Liam grumbled making Theo raise an eyebrow.

When Liam didn't say anything else, Theo turned around, ready to go somewhere else, when Liam grabbed his arm and made him turn back to face him. 

“Look, Theo, we need to talk.”

Theo sighed, he knew they had to talk, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to. Talking meant opening up and opening up meant being vulnerable; Theo didn't want to be vulnerable. 

“Please?” Liam pleaded when he saw him hesitate. 

And Theo gave in. He gestured in the direction of the dormitories and led the way to the one where he slept, making sure that Liam was following him. If they wanted to have the talk they needed to have, they wouldn't have it in the middle of a party. 

When they were inside and the door was closed, Theo took his wand out to cast a charm on the door, so that the noise of the party wouldn't pass through and interrupt them. 

“You wanted to talk, so talk.”

“I'm sorry,” Liam rushed out. “I should not have said what I said.”

Liam looked at Theo as if he expected him to say something, but, when he saw that Theo wouldn't open his mouth, he sighed. 

“I should not have made the assumptions I made and I should have let you talk.”

“You should have.”

Liam rubbed his face with his hand, a tired expression is shown. 

“I'm really sorry, Theo, can we please put all these behind our backs?”

Theo wanted to agree and forget everything that had happened, but Liam’s doubts had hurt him and that was something he couldn't just erase. They could work towards putting it behind their backs, however. 

“It hurt me you know? Knowing that you doubted me, that you thought I would ever do something to make you lose the game. I would never, Liam. I’m not like that.”

And working towards putting everything behind their backs started with Theo letting Liam know how it all had made him feel.

“I know that, Theo,” Liam moved forward. “I'm so sorry.”

Theo sighed. 

“I'm sorry, too. Even if I hadn't meant to distract you, my comment still did it and I should've never said something like that when there were so many people around.”

Liam took one more step towards Theo standing right in front of him, a little smile stretching on his lips when he heard what the other boy said.

“Am I forgiven?”

Theo gulped, he was still hurt but being mad at Liam wouldn't make it any better, on the contrary, it would only make him be more upset. 

“You are,” Theo said softly. 

Liam's smile was full after that, clearly relieved that they were putting their problems behind their backs and moving forward. 

“Thank you,” he said, leaning up to kiss Theo’s forehead. “I'm glad we got past this.”

“I am too,” Theo leaned into him, kissing his shoulder, their arms wrapping around each other in a hug. “And, Liam, I did mean what I said in the comment.”

Even though the words they had said still hurt, they had moved on from it and Theo was sure that it had been the right decision, it was exactly what needed to be done, exactly what they needed. 

_________________

After their conversation, Theo and Liam went to the common room again, since their moods were better they didn’t mind the party as much - they also knew that Tracy and Hayden would go get them if they didn’t go to the party on their own.

This party was smaller than the party they had had in the Room of Requirement and Teo was thankful for that, even though he was in a better mood, it didn’t mean that he wanted to party wildly or anything like that. But that didn’t mean that they didn’t know how to have fun.

In fact, everyone seemed to be having fun, sitting in a circle on the floor with a wand in the middle, they were all laughing and teasing each other; Theo wasn’t sure if he wanted to be part of whatever it was they were playing. He was about to ask Liam if he wanted to turn back around, but Hayden spotted them and smirked, slapping Tracy’s arm lightly and pointing at them and there was no way out. 

Liam looked at him helplessly, showing Theo that he also didn't fancy joining the circle, but shrugged, knowing that there was no way out, too. They walked up to the circle and sat next to each other, their knees brushing and remind Theo of the night of the other party when they had held hands because of the dare. 

“We're playing 7 minutes in Heaven,” Tracy smirked at them. 

Theo wasn’t surprised, but he wished even more that he had stayed in the dormitory now. 

“And where do we spend the 7 minutes?” Liam asked in a low voice so that only Theo could hear when a Slytherin boy spun the wand.

“In that closet over there,” Theo pointed at one of the walls, already knowing everything about playing this game in this room.

Liam narrowed his eyes at the wall, not really seeing any kind of door that could possibly lead to a closet, turning his glare at Theo when he chuckled.

“What?” He asked Theo.

Theo shook his head fondly and leaned in to whisper in Liam’s ear. 

“You’re cute when you’re confused.”

Liam blushed and looked down to try and hide it. It was really nice to hear Theo say things like that, just like it had been nice to hear the comment on the Quidditch game, he was just glad that this time it was more private.

“The door can only be opened by a Slytherin.”

“How?”

“It’s Hogwarts, Liam, and you’re in the Slytherin common room. The word impossible doesn’t exist here and there are more secrets than you can imagine hidden in these walls.”

Theo enjoyed the sight of Liam looking around the common room like he was expecting anything to pop up at any moment, amused, to say the least.

“Don’t worry, nothing is gonna appear to eat you, Little Lion.” 

The smile on Liam’s face after he heard the nickname made Theo’s heart warm and he swore to himself right in that minute that he would call him that as many times as he could; he wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to see Liam smiling like that again.

“If you two are quite done flirting, it’s your turn to spin, Liam,” Tracy’s voice interrupted them while Hayden’s elbow connected with Liam’s ribs.

Liam mumbled something under his breath and leaned in to spin the wand, the person whom it pointed to would be the one to go into the closet with him. Theo found himself holding his breath. He hadn’t thought about what a game of 7 minutes in Heaven would bring, he hadn’t thought of the possibility of Liam going to the closet with someone else, but now that Liam was spinning the wand, he couldn’t help but dread it, he couldn’t help that his heart was beating way too fast and he couldn’t help the desire to grab Liam by his hand and drag him back to the safety of the dormitory, away from the party and the stupid game.

When the wand stop, it was like Theo’s heart could beat again. And beating it was, frantically, but for an entirely different reason now. The wand was pointing right at him and the catcalls around the room left no room to doubt about being hallucinating or something equally as stupid.

“Come on, boys, in you go,” Tracy smirked, wand pointed at the wall.

Without thinking too much about it, Theo got up from the floor and grabbed Liam’s hands, bringing him up and leading him to the door that had just appeared and opened where Tracy’s wand had been pointed at.

They entered the closet and the door closed softly behind them. The closet wasn’t too small, they fit in there normally, and it was illuminated by some scented candles, no doubt put in there by Tracy.

“So, what should we do?” Liam asked, looking around the small space.

“Normally people make out when they come in here, especially if it’s because of this game,” Theo said bluntly, a smirk on his face. “To be fair, the last time we were in this position we almost ended up doing just that.”

“Theo!” Liam yelped, face reddening adorably.

“What?”

“You can’t just say things like that!”

“Like what? Facts?”

Liam opened and closed his mouth like he was trying to find the words but couldn’t come up with anything.

“Should we do it then? Make out, I mean.”

Theo’s eyes widened, not expecting Liam to suggest anything like that, but wanting nothing more than to agree, to go ahead with it. But it wouldn’t be a sensible decision. They had put what had happened behind their backs, but it was still fresh and clear in their minds. Also, Theo didn’t want their first kiss to happen because of some stupid game that had put them in a closet together.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t want to, Little Lion,” he started. “But we solved all the mess that happened just minutes ago, it doesn’t feel like the right time. And the situation and place are not exactly ideal either.”

“I guess you’re right,” Liam nodded, a little smile dancing on his lips. “We’ll have plenty of time for that from now on, anyway.”

“We will, won’t we?”

Liam laughed and leaned in to kiss Theo’s cheek.

“We definitely will.”

When the door opened, they were still pressed against each other, arms going around waists and lips pressing gains cheeks and necks softly, laughs bubbling and filling the small closet.

They didn’t go back to the game after leaving the closet, they sat on one of the couches, resting against each other and talking in soft voices, the fireplace warming them up and casting a calming atmosphere - which was only interrupted by Theo squealing when one of the enchanted spiders fell on top of his head, Liam’s laugh falling right after, amused and happy, moving one hand to get the spider off and ruffle Theo’s hair with a soft look on his face. 

The two of them smirked when Tracy and Hayden left the closet at some point of the game, hairs messier and lipsticks lighter than they had been before.

It was a nice night and Theo was glad that his friends had made him leave his dormitory. When he said goodnight to Liam with a light kiss to the corner of his mouth, Theo knew that Liam had been right, there would be plenty of time to let their relationship progress from then on.

“Tracy,” he had called right before going to bed. “Thank you, for everything.”

“Just be happy, Theo, that’s the only thing I want.”

He had hugged her and thanked her again because he knew, without a doubt, that if it weren’t for her he wouldn’t be this happy right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does this even make sense? I don't know.
> 
> But, hey, Thiam made up and there was some progress.
> 
> What did you think? I love reading your comments and opinions.


	7. Fools

_The anticipation before the kiss_  
_Mirrored in my shaking lips_  
_Oh god I feel so unprepared_  
_The two of us so out of place_  
_My feelings_ written _on my face_  
_Got what I want but now I'm scared_  
  
_What if we ruin it all, and we love like fools?_  
_And all we have we lose?_  
_I don't want you to go but I want you so_  
_So tell me what_  
_Tell me what we choose_

_\- Fools by Lauren Aquilina_

 

_____________

 

It was Monday morning, Theo knew that he had to get up from the bed and actually get ready for classes, but he was tired and just wanted to sleep. Brett had been yelling at him to get up from the other side of the curtains for fifteen minutes now, clearly, feed up with Theo being late, but Theo just wants to stay in the warmth of his bed.

 

“Theo, get your ass out of the bed,” Brett shouted again.

 

“Fuck off,” Theo grumbled, face pressed against the pillow.

 

“Come on, Theo, we need to go have breakfast.”

 

By this time, however, Theo was sure that they would surely miss breakfast, he still had to get up and get dressed and he didn’t know what time it was, but it wasn’t time for breakfast.

 

“Why can’t they let us sleep longer?” He complained while leaving his bed, mumbling to himself about not having time to take a shower before class.

 

Brett was already ready to go, dressed and with his shoes on, and Josh was finishing getting dressed, the other boys with whom they shared their room had already left. Theo was late today, even more than he usually was.

 

“If you had gotten up the first time I called you, you would have time to shower,” Brett said while Theo ran around the room in search for everything he needed.

 

“Shouldn’t you be having breakfast already?” Theo asked when he was putting his shirt on.

 

“We decided to be good friends and wait for you,” Brett smiled sweetly, too sweetly.

 

“Is that so?” Theo asked with a raised eyebrow, knowing that that wasn’t the reason as to why his friends had waited.

 

“Nah,” Brett chuckled not even bothering to pretend. “We only stayed because seeing you rushing to find everything you need is really entertaining.”

 

Theo wasn’t surprised by that answer, it was typical Brett and typical Josh, but that didn’t stop him from looking at his friends and stick his tongue out like a child, pants midway up his legs.

 

“We also didn’t want to see Tracy with her tongue halfway down Hayden’s throat,” Josh added laughing.

 

“Are they dating?” Theo asked them.

 

He had spent his Sunday inside the common room, studying and helping some of the younger Slytherins with their homework, so he hadn’t had time to talk to Tracy, who had spent the whole day outside of the Slytherin territory.

 

“Tracy spent the whole day with her yesterday, so I'm guessing they are… Or that at least there’s something going on.”

 

“And didn’t you see them when they came out of the closet at the party? They didn’t even try to hide it.”

 

“Of course Theo didn’t see them,” Brett snickered. “He was too busy staring at Liam to notice anything other than blue eyes.”

 

“Actually, I did see them,” Theo grumbled. “I just wasn’t sure if they were dating or not.”

 

“Pardon me, let me rephrase. Theo was staring at Liam, but he also noticed Tracy and Hayden’s post make-out session state; how could I not have known that Theo looks at something other than Liam.”

 

“Shut up, Brett,” Theo chuckled and threw his pillow at brett before going back to tying his shoes, not even caring that Josh was laughing at him. 

 

Theo got up from the bed where he was sitting and grabbed his bag and his wand, joining the other two at the door. He was still tired and he wanted to go back to his bed and sleep, but he knew that he couldn’t so he followed his friends out of the room. He would see Liam, though, that was a good thought that made him want to go to class a little bit more.

 

“To be honest,” Brett went back to the original question. “I’m not sure if they are dating or not. We’ll know eventually.”

 

And Theo was sure that they would know, Tracy might try to keep it down for a while to leave them curious, but she would eventually tell them everything, she always did. The common room was already empty when they left, making Theo even more sure that there was no way they could possibly go have breakfast.

 

“What about you and Liam?” Josh smirked.

 

“We’re not dating, if that’s what you want to know,” he shook his head.

 

“But you do like him,” it wasn’t a question, it was something that all of them knew was true.

 

“I’m not even going to deny that,” Theo shrugged.

 

“And he likes you, too.”

 

Theo didn’t answer but a stupid smile that he couldn’t erase even if he tried to appeared on his face and didn’t go unnoticed by his friends.

 

“Look at his face,” Brett teased. “He’s completely smitten.”

 

“Stop it,” Theo glared, but there was no heat or anger in it, he knew they were only teasing him and he didn’t mind that kind of teasing, it wasn’t like they were wrong either.

 

They were walking to the Potions classroom when Hayden and Tracy appeared in front of them. Tracy had two cupcakes on her hands and Hayden had one and they gave them to the boys. Theo noticed that their hands were clasped together and swinging between them, fingers intertwined.

 

“Hmmm… holding hands are we?” He smirked.

 

“Yes, we are. Is there a problem?” Tracy raised an eyebrow.

 

“Of course not,” Brett laughed. “You brought us cupcakes because we missed breakfast, Hayden clearly is a good influence on you.”

 

“I have always been nice,” Tracy scoffed.

 

Theo put his arm around her shoulders, laughing at the slightly offended look on her face, and made the two girls start walking to the class they would be late to if Tracy decided to engage in an argument with Brett about she being nice.

 

“Sure, dear,” he laughed. “You’ve always been as nice as me.”

 

Tracy elbowed him playfully in the ribs but laughed with him. She knew he was right, they were similar in that aspect, they could be really nice but they usually chose when being nice was the better option and when it wasn’t. They were nice if they wanted to.

 

“We’ll see what a Gryffindor’s influence does to you too,” she told him, clearly talking about Liam and their growing relationship.

 

“Yeah,” he smiled. “We’ll see.”

 

______________________

 

They were the last students to arrive to class, the others were already seated on their places and waiting for the professor to come. 

 

Brett and Josh hurried to their table in the first row, making sure that they were seated before the teacher appeared. The both of them worked together in Potions class, as did Theo and Tracy, Hayden had partnered up with Liam since the beginning of the year. Following their friends lead, the other three walked to their tables which were next to each other.

 

Before sitting, Tracy stopped in front of Hayden’s table and talked to the girl in whispers. Theo looked at the other occupant of that table and winked when he saw that Liam had been looking at him, the other boy rolled his eyes playfully but smiled at Theo who couldn’t help but smile back.

 

“You guys are completely smitten,” Tracy’s voice broke them out of their small bubble.

 

“Like you’re not,” Liam raised an eyebrow, not denying what she had said.

 

The two girls looked at each other and laughed, it was plainly obvious that they were smitten, too. Hayden leaned in and kissed Tracy’s cheek before the Slytherin girl came to her place next to Theo, just as the professor appeared.

 

“I hope all of you studied what I told you to the last lesson,” Professor Slughorn said when he entered the classroom.

 

Looking around the room anyone could tell exactly who did the homework and who didn’t. Theo thought that they were stupid for not even trying to pretend, the small, knowing smile on the professor’s face told him that he wasn’t fooled by any of them either.

 

“Mr. Raeken,” he called, knowing that Theo would know the answer. “Could you explain to the class what is this potion and what it does?”

 

Theo smirked, happy to show that he, unlike many of his classmates, had done his reading and knew the answer to the question.

 

“This potion is Amortentia, the most powerful love potion in the whole Wizarding World. The person who drinks it will experience strong infatuation or even obsession with the person who gave it to them,” Theo explained.

 

“Anything particular you would like to add, Mr. Raeken?”

 

“If well brewed, the potion will have a different smell for everyone. It will remind the person in contact with it of the three things they love the most or find the most attractive, even if the person is unaware of their affection towards the object, or person, they smell.”

 

“Very well,” Professor Slughorn nodded with an impressed smile. “10 points to Slytherin.”

 

The Slytherins around the room looked smug since they had just earned some more points, while the Gryffindors looked slightly annoyed for having lost an opportunity to get house points, all except for Hayden who was looking at her book like she didn’t care and Liam who had an impressed look on his face while he looked at Theo.

 

“Now, no one is going to drink this potion here,” the Professor told them, not wanting any of them to do something stupid. “But we will brew it and smell it. Go grab your ingredients and put your hands to work.”

 

Tracy and Theo were the first ones inside the storeroom where the teacher kept the ingredients since they were the ones who sat closest to it. They got everything they needed and exited it before it got crowded with all the other students.

 

The two of them laid the ingredients in front of them on the table and checked if the caldron was clean before  starting to read the instructions from the book, determined to make the best potion they could.

 

“So,” Theo started. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on between you and Hayden?”

 

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” She grabbed one of the knifes.

 

“Come on, Tracy, you can’t keep it hidden forever,” he whined.

 

“I won’t keep it hidden forever,” Tracy snorted while starting to cut the ashwinder eggs. “I just like a little mystery...”

 

“I know that, but do you have to keep it up with me?” Theo put the eggs Tracy had cut inside the cauldron.

 

“Of course I have to,” she laughed. “It’s entertaining to see you so curious.”

 

“What a nice friend you are,” he said ironically.

 

“We’re dating,” Tracy said after a few minutes of silence. “Hayden and I, we’re dating.” 

 

“When did it happen?” Theo asked while lowering the flame on the cauldron.

 

“Yesterday.”

 

Theo added the rose thorns to the mix in front of them.

 

“I’m really happy for you, Tracy,” he smiled at the girl next to him.

 

She looked happy and relaxed and he was really glad that she had found love and was enjoying it like she deserved.

 

“What about you?” She passed him the powdered moonstone.

 

“What about me?”

 

“When are you going to ask Liam out.”

 

He stopped what he was doing and looked up at her. He did want to ask Liam out, but he didn’t know how to ask or where they could go; he wasn’t afraid of Liam saying no, he knew that Liam liked him as much as he liked him, he just had to wait for the right moment to ask.

 

“I don’t know.”

 

“But you are going to ask him out, aren’t you?”

 

“I plan to,” he added the peppermint.

 

Tracy smiled brightly at that, clearly proud of her friend and happy that he was going to give what he and Liam had a chance.

 

“There’s a Hogsmeade trip next weekend, you should use it.”

 

“I might.”

 

After that, they kept on preparing their potions, talking about their love interests and other random things in whispers while time passed and, all of a sudden, Theo was adding the pearl dust and finishing the last details of the potion, the class almost finished.

 

“Let’s see if your potions are as well brewed as they should,” the teacher said when everyone had finished their potions. “I want you to go around the room, smell each cauldron and if you can smell the same thing in each one of them it means that all the potions are good.”

 

Theo leaned in to smell their cauldron and sighed, it did smell good. The first scent that caught his senses was the smell of burnt wood and fire, remind him of the Slytherin common room where he felt at home; then he caught the scent of Tracy’s flowery perfume mixed with Brett’s and Josh’s colognes, the smell that reminded him of his friends, his family; and, in the middle of it all, there was the unmistakable smell of cinnamon and coffee, the smell that screamed love at his face, the scent that he had always loved on Liam.

 

He walked around the room, smelling the exact same things in almost every cauldron, making him feel warm and enveloped in nice feelings and memories, he loved all those smells and they were all so important to him, he wasn’t too surprised that this was what Amortentia smelled like to him.

 

Tracy stopped next to him when they were facing the last cauldron, her eyes were wide and bright and Theo knew that she was as mind blown by the feelings the smells carried with them as he was.

 

“What do you smell?” She whispered.

 

“The common room, you and the guys and Liam,” he answered with a little smile, looking up at where Liam was and making eye contact with him.

 

“I smelled my grandfather’s house, the Slytherin common room and honey,” she looked up at where Hayden was and Theo knew that she was the honey on Tracy’s Amortentia. 

 

Theo and Tracy really were smitten with the two Gryffindors, but none of them cared one bit. 

 

____________________

 

Theo was walking outside of the castle on Wednesday afternoon. He was alone since Tracy had gone to the Gryffindor tower to spend some time with Hayden and the other two Slytherin boys had gone to the library to study; they had invited Theo to go with them, but he really didn’t feel like studying and the weather outside was too nice to pass up.

 

Walking to the Quidditch pitch, Theo hadn't expected to see anyone flying around, convinced that everyone would be either walking around or studying, although he wasn’t too surprised since people relaxed in different ways. There was a figure hovering in the air, riding a broomstick and flying around. Theo would have kept walking if he hadn’t recognized the messy hair and the back and shoulders as Liam Dunbar, so he stayed; he sat on the bleachers and looked up at the other boy. Observing the way he flew around with confidence and ease, the way he looked like he was in his element, how well he did it.

 

When Liam came down from his flight, he sat on the ground panting, with his back turned to Theo, broomstick laying on the floor next to him, clearly tired from the exercise he had just been doing. Theo took advantage of his distraction and got up as slowly as he could, so that he wouldn’t make any noise, and walked up behind Liam, quietly, and, when he was standing directly behind him, he stopped and opened his mouth.

 

“Fancy seeing you here, Dunbar.”

 

Liam jumped, getting up in under a second and turning around so fast that Theo worried he would get dizzy and fall over. His eyes were wide and his body seemed to shake a little from the scare, Theo felt a little bad, but he hadn’t meant to startle him so much.

 

“Merlin, Theo, what the hell,” he screeched, hand on top of his chest. “You can’t just sneak up on people like that.”

 

“Sorry,” he said, but the laughter in his voice showed how amused and unapologetic he really was now that he knew that Liam was ok and not mad. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

 

“Shut up,” Liam chuckled, calmer now. “That was exactly your intention.”

 

“You think so lowly of me?” Theo asked, faking disappointment.

 

“Yes, actually,” Liam shrugged with an innocent grin.

 

“You wound me, Liam,” he gasped in mock hurt and betrayal.

 

Theo two of them laughed and looked at each other with smiles on their lips.

 

“What are you doing here?” Liam asked, sitting on the floor again.

 

“I was just walking by and saw you flying,”Theo sat next to him and turned his face so that they were making eye contact. ”You’re really good at it.”

 

A shy smile stretched across Liam’s face, eyes averting to look somewhere else for a moment before turning back to Theo’s eyes.

 

“Thank you,” he whispered.

 

Theo didn’t answer, but he kept his eyes on the boy in front of him, looking across his face and admiring the way he looked in the sunlight, hair swept back from his flight and cheeks slightly flushed, taking in the beauty that was Liam.

 

“You look beautiful,” he couldn’t help but say. 

 

Liam needed to know just how attractive Theo found him, how perfect he was, and Theo didn’t have a problem with telling him, in fact, Theo would tell him as often as he could, making sure that the other boy knew just how amazing he was.

 

Liam was blushing harder now and Theo smiled wider when he saw him playing with a strand of his shirt while avoiding eye contact with him.

 

“It’s true, Little Lion, you are beautiful.”

 

“Stop it,” he whined, punching Theo’s arm lightly.

 

“Ok, I’ll stop,” Theo chuckled. “For now.”

 

Theo laid on his back on the grass after that, looking up at the sky and the clouds racing each other, he was glad that the sun wasn’t too bright and he could look at it all without getting blinded. After a few seconds, seemingly recovering from his embarrassment, Liam laid down next to him, eyes on the clouds too.

 

“We should hang out this weekend in Hogsmeade,” Liam said.

 

Theo turned his face sideways to look at him while Liam kept staring up. 

 

“Are you asking me on a date?” Theo asked, startled. 

 

“Maybe… Will you say yes?”

 

“Damn it, Liam,” Theo groaned. “Why did you have to ask before I could?”

 

“Wait,” Liam turned his face to look at Theo, their eyes meeting. “You were going to ask me on a date, too?”

 

“So, it is a date, after all…” Theo smirked.

 

“Come on, Theo,” Liam laughed.

 

“Yes, Liam, I was going to ask you on a date.”

 

“Then your answer is yes, right?”

 

“Of course, I’ll go on a date with you,” Theo reached with his right hand to grab Liam’s left one and intertwine their fingers. “I really want to go on a date with you.”

 

“Good,” Liam grinned. “Because I really want to take you on a date.”

 

They stayed like that for a while, eyes holding the other’s, hands intertwined and happy smiles stretched across their faces. It was an amazing way to pass the time, just being in Liam’s company and enjoying having him near, appreciating the way his blue eyes shown with the sun and the warmth of his hand on his. This was everything to Theo. Liam was becoming everything to Theo.

 

So, he leaned in and kissed his forehead softly, mumbling a quiet “You’re beautiful” and settling back down on the ground to enjoy the beauty that was Liam’s reaction.

 

_______________________

 

Theo was waiting at the Entrance Hall. The majority of people had already left for Hogsmeade but Theo was still waiting for Liam to climb down the stairs. The Gryffindor was late and Theo was starting to worry. He was stupidly wondering if Liam had given up and decided not to go on their date, ridiculously doubting Liam. Logically, he knew that Liam wouldn’t do that, he had been the one who had asked Theo out, he had said that he wanted the date, he wouldn’t back down and if he did,he would have told Theo; Theo knew that, but that ridiculous part of his brain still doubted it all a little, for some reason.

 

He was interrupted from trying to stop himself from freaking out when Liam finally appeared, running down the stairs. He stopped in front of Theo, panting and breathless, face red and eyes wide.

 

“Did you run all the way down from the Gryffindor tower?” Theo raised an eyebrow.

 

“Maybe?” Liam said in the middle of taking deep breaths to regain his breath. 

 

“You didn’t have to,” Theo shook his head fondly.

 

“I did. I’m sorry for being so late,” he apologized.

 

“Don’t worry,” Theo put an arm around his shoulders and led them to the outside. “It's fine.”

 

“I wanted to come earlier, but I had to go over some things with Madam Hooch and the Quidditch team. I came as fast as I could,” he explained.

 

“Liam…” Theo tried to stop him from talking anymore.

 

“I swear I tried to get away from them, but I’m the team captain and I really had to be there,” he continued, ignoring Theo.

 

“Liam,” Theo called again, stepping in front of the other boy and grabbing him by the shoulders to make him stop. “Stop worrying about it, it’s fine. I get why you were late. There’s not a problem.”

 

Theo smiled encouragingly at him, willing him to believe that everything was ok between them and that Theo wasn’t mad at all and that things were alright between them. He had been ridiculously worried before, but now that he knew exactly why Liam had been late he was reassured and he understood it, the worry completely leaving him.

 

“Alright, ok, let’s go,” Liam finally smiled back, now more relieved than before.

 

Theo stepped back to his place next to Liam, wrapping his arm around his shoulders again and bringing him closer before starting to walk again.

 

“So, where are you taking me?” Theo asked after a short pause in the conversation.

 

“I guess you’ll see when we get there,” Liam answered with a smirk on his face.

 

Theo huffed, amused, he should have expected Liam to say something like that, he should have expected Liam to feed his curiosity and leave him wanting to know what they would be doing more than before leaving the castle, making Theo as eager as he could. 

 

“You could at least give me a hint,” he suggested, knowing he wouldn’t get an answer but that Liam would love to see that his work on getting him curious had been done well.

 

“Don’t be so impatient,” Liam teased, leaning his head up to kiss his cheek.

 

When they arrived at Hogsmeade, Liam stopped in his tracks and stepped in front of Theo like the boy had done earlier. There was a smile on his face, but Theo could see the little lines of worry in his expression and he didn’t like it at all.

 

“What’s wrong, Liam?” He hurried to ask.

 

“It’s just… I wasn’t sure about what we could do, I wanted to take you somewhere nice but this is Hogsmeade and the options are not exactly that open, so I kind of just went with this plan hoping for the best.”

 

“There’s no need to freak out over this, you can take me anywhere it’s fine,” he reassured. “Well, unless you want to take me to the Shrieking Shack because there is no way I would like to visit that for a date.”

 

“Well, we could go there and do some shrieking of our own, if you know what I mean.”

 

Theo blinked, mouth falling open in surprise, he hadn’t been expecting to hear Liam say that and, judging by Liam’s reaction he hadn’t exactly planned to say it, either. Liam was looking around the village, eyes everywhere except on Theo, he had taken one step back and was now shifting his weight from one foot to the other. 

 

And Theo couldn’t help it, he started laughing because the situation was so good, so priceless. He laughed until his stomach ached a little and tears appeared in his eyes, he laughed until Liam eased up and started laughing with him and then the two of them laughed together. And it was incredible.

 

“Wow, Little Wolf, didn’t know you had it in you, but what a nice suggestion,” he winked teasingly.

 

“Shut up,” Liam chuckled.

 

“Come on,” Theo grabbed his arm. “Take me out.”

 

“I really hope that you like what we’re doing.”

 

“Little Lion, I’ll be spending time with you, of course, I will like it.”

 

Liam shook his head fondly.

 

“Who knew Theo Raeken could be this cheesy.”

 

“You love it,” Theo winked.

 

“I do.”

 

They kept walking along the street while teasing each other. It was already so nice and they were just walking to whatever place Liam had chosen. Theo had told the truth, he knew he would have a good time because he would be with Liam and that was all he wanted to do, be with Liam.

 

They stopped in front of a little shop in which Theo had never entered before even though he had looked at it and wondered what would be inside.

 

“I really like this shop,” Liam explained when he opened the door. “I’ve been coming here since the first time I came to Hogsmeade.”

 

Theo looked around surprised, he hadn’t expected it to be a music shop, but it was perfect and looked so cozy, he automatically felt welcomed in there.

 

“Liam,” he gasped. “This is so nice.”

 

“Yeah? I'm glad you think that.”

 

Liam leads him to the back of the shop, to the place where they could listen to the records, passing by the man who was behind the counter and greeted Liam like an old friend. He probably did go into the shop as many times and for as long as he had said, he knew his way around and acted like he was home, it was nice to see him in such a Liam environment, like watching him playing Quidditch. 

 

“All the records are Muggle,” Liam explained. “The owner wanted to share a bit of the culture and music with the wizard community.”

 

“That's really nice.”

 

“I'll show you some records.”

 

He moved to grab one out of a neat pile and put it on the player, grinning at Theo the moment the song started playing. 

 

“I never listened to this one, I usually start by a random one, so that I can maybe find a new song that I like, before moving onto the ones related to it, if I like it, or the ones I already know and like,” he explained just as the song started. 

 

Theo listened to it carefully for a few seconds, before looking up at Liam and grimacing. 

 

“What song is this?”

 

Liam shrugged and grabbed the cover to look at the title. 

 

“It's called ‘My All’ and it's by Mariah Carey…” He read. 

 

“Will you be mad if I ask you to change it? It's just way too slow.”

 

Liam chuckled. 

 

“I don't like it, either.”

 

He took off that record and started looking for another one. Theo observed him, smiling at the concentrated pout on his lips and the way his eyes were narrowed while looking through the titles in search of the perfect one.

 

Suddenly, Liam gasped, hands gripping one of the records and bringing it up from the place where it was. He walked up to Theo and grinned. 

 

“I can't believe I found this. See if you recognize it, ok?”

 

Theo nodded and Liam put it on. Theo couldn't remember ever listening to the song before when he started listening to it, but, when the song progressed, he raised his eyes to meet Liam’s in recognition. 

 

He knew exactly what song it was. 

 

“This is the song,” he started. “The one that was playing at the party.”

 

“Yeah,” Liam said softly. 

 

Their eyes met while the song floated around them, rhythm and lyrics reminding Theo of the party in the Room of Requirement, the song to which Liam and he had slow danced. The song that made him realize just how much he liked Liam. And he knew that Liam’s thoughts were going around the same places, his eyes were shining, looking right at Theo’s and the smile on his face was so beautiful. Theo was so glad that he had given what they had a chance. It was everything. 

 

“I'm buying this,” he found himself saying. 

 

Liam smiled even wider, eyes crinkling at the corner. 

 

And Theo was in love with Liam, he was so in love with him. 

 

____________________

 

It was warm inside the Three Broomsticks. After Theo and Liam had left the music shop, Liam had dragged him to the pub, saying that he wanted to warm up and drink something, so they were now sitting at a table with a Butterbeer in their hands. It was nice and cozy and Theo didn’t want the afternoon, and their date, to end.

 

“How did you start liking Muggle music, Liam?” Theo asked him, curious to get to know the Gryffindor a bit better.

 

“I have always liked music, but the music made by wizards never appealed to me,” he explained. “My mother’s best friend is a Muggle and introduced her to their culture. I’ve been listening to their music since I was a kid and I have always liked it better.”

 

“I have to say that wizard music is not my favorite either, I listen to some, but I prefer Muggle. My mom is Muggle-born so I have always been in contact with the culture and always enjoyed it,” Theo shared a little about himself, too.

 

“You’re a half-blood,” Liam stated, looking a little surprised at the revelation.

 

“You didn’t know?” Theo raised an eyebrow.

 

“No, I mean, you’re a Slytherin and I had always assumed that you were a pureblood.”

 

“There are some half-bloods and even some Muggle-borns in Slytherin, Liam, people just ignore it because they only care about the stereotype,” he scoffed, tired of the assumptions everyone made about his house.

 

“You’re right… I guess I need to try harder in order to look past all the stereotypes like I want to.”

 

“You already look past the stereotypes, Liam, you hang out with us, we’re on a date. You see the real us, the real Slytherin, and the real me.”

 

“Still, I want to stop assuming things just because they have been thrown at me all these years. I want to put all of that behind my back and form my own opinions.”

 

Theo stayed silent, just staring at Liam with a smile on his face.

 

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

 

“I just love when you talk like that.”

 

Liam shook his head fondly, he knew how important it was to Theo that he valorized him as a Slytherin, that he was thinking for himself and seeing things as they were, and he was determined to make Theo see just how worth it and lovely he thought the Slytherin was.

 

“I didn’t ask before, but what was the Quidditch meeting about?” Theo asked him.

 

Liam took a gulp of his Butterbeer before looking up at Theo.

 

“Just going over some things we have to polish until next game, Madam Hooch was helping us plan everything. I’m sorry for being late.”

 

“Can you stop apologizing for that?” Theo huffed. “I said it’s fine. I only asked now because I’m interested in you and Quidditch is an important part of your life, I want to know what’s going on in your life. It’s not to make you feel bad or anything, I better not hear another apology coming from your mouth.”

 

Liam laughed with an eye roll, Theo knew that a part of Liam would still beat himself up a bit for being late to the date, but it really was ok. Liam was stubborn, Theo knew that.

 

“Are you always this charming?”

 

“You know I am, Little Lion, and you love it!”

 

“Can’t deny that,” Liam winked.

 

They talked about some random things for a while, just enjoying each other’s company and having fun without worrying about anything. It was such a nice date, the best they had ever had and the both of them couldn’t be happier to be with each other in there.

 

__________________

 

After leaving the Three Broomsticks, the two of them had gone to Honeydukes to buy some sweets and candy to eat when they were back at the castle. Liam had insisted on paying for both of their bags which were full of chocolates and other candies and, although Theo had said that he didn’t need to, he had done it anyway and Theo wouldn’t say no to free sweets.

 

“When did you meet your friends?” Liam asked while they walked back to the castle, hands intertwined between them.

 

The sun was almost setting and the air was starting to get colder, so it was time to go back to the school and say goodbye to the date.

 

“I’ve known Tracy and Brett since we were nine or something and I only met Josh when we started school at Hogwarts,” he told him. “I remember playing with the two of them before Hogwarts, wondering what house we would be sorted in.”

 

“Did you think you would be a Slytherin?” Liam asked with a fond smile.

 

“I had always been almost sure that I would be one, the hat only confirmed it,” he grinned. “What about you?”

 

“I wasn’t sure. I did think that I had some of Gryffindor’s traits in me, but I wasn’t sure that it would be the house where I would fit in… Hufflepuff seemed like a possibility, you know?”

 

“Hmm… I can’t imagine you in yellow, red is your color,” Theo teased and, just because he knew that he would get a reaction out of Liam, he added. “And you are my Little Lion for a reason.”

 

“Your Little Lion?”

 

“Yeah, my Little Lion.”

 

“You’re right, I definitely am your Little Lion.”

 

They stopped walking and stood in front of each other, eyes locked and smiles wide. Their hands were still clasped between them and they only let go when Theo took one step forward and raised his hand to touch Liam’s cheek gently. Liam leaned into the touch, eyes closing and a sigh escaping his lips. 

 

When his eyes opened again, Theo felt his breath catch in his throat, losing himself in the beautiful shade of blue. Liam leaned up, a small breath between their lips.

 

And then it happened.

 

Theo leaned down and Liam leaned up and their lips touched. Softly at first, trying, careful. And then they grew more confident, lips parting and hands moving. Liam’s hands went to the back of Theo’s neck and his hair and Theo’s hands moved to Liam’s hips to bring him closer.

 

Their kiss was gentle and sweet, it tasted like Butterbeer and chocolate, it tasted like coming home, it tasted like everything they had wanted to do for a while, and it tasted like a promise for a future together.

 

Theo didn’t know how long they stayed in there, in the middle of the road, just kissing and touching softly, enjoying every bit of what they were doing, giving everything they had and receiving everything the other gave them.

 

And it was perfect, the whole date had been perfect, everything with Liam was perfect.

 

Because Theo was in love with Liam and he was pretty sure that Liam felt the same way, and it was lovely and beautiful.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had literally no control over this chapter, it just happened. I hope it wasn't too cheesy or too boring.
> 
> Anyway, I have something to say and it is kind of important. This story wasn't supposed to be like this at all, the plot completely changed from what I had planned and that is why I shortened the length of this fic. I'm still not sure when it's going to end, but probably there will only be 2 more chapters.
> 
> The plot change is also why I decided to change the title because the other didn't fit this new version.
> 
> So, that's it. I hope you liked this fluffy mess.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know when I will publish more chapters but hope you like this one. Every chapter will have a song assigned by the way. I'm [classythiam](https://classythiam.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr, you can talk to me there.


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